‘Very unusual’: Yes, Boise, it’s ridiculously hot for June 3. But did we set a record?
It was indeed a blistering day in Boise on Thursday, with record-breaking temperatures rising to 103 degrees by dinnertime after the heat nearly set a record Wednesday.
The two days of unusually hot weather for early June sent residents out to the Boise River and local ponds, but it was stifling for those without air conditioning and the homeless population.
Shortly after 5 p.m. on Thursday, it was 103 in Boise, according to the National Weather Service. Before today, the record for June 3 was 98 degrees, set in 2007. The temperature was the hottest on record this early in the year and marked the warmest day since Aug. 16, 2020.
Temperatures hit 96 degrees in the City of Trees on Wednesday, just shy of the record of 97, first set in 1986 and matched in 2007, according to the NWS. Though this year’s high for June 2 was short of the record, it was 19 degrees hotter than the average temperature.
In Boise, average temperatures usually don’t reach the 90s until the middle of July, according to historical data and weather charts.
Officials said that, fortunately, there had not been a glut of heat-related emergency calls over the two days. Early on Thursday afternoon, the NWS declared an “excessive heat warning” to remain in effect until 9 p.m., and encouraged residents to drink plenty of water.
In a phone interview, meteorologist Korri Anderson told the Statesman that the week’s hot weather was caused by a high-pressure ridge that came to the Treasure Valley from the southwest and pushed the cooler jet stream farther north.
A high-pressure ridge is “a large dome of warm air,” Anderson said. “That’s basically what’s over us now.”
On Thursday evening, showers, thunderstorms and gusty winds originating in Oregon were expected to reach the Treasure Valley and dissipate some of the hotter temps. The forecast for Friday, however, is still a high of 95, but on Saturday it’s expected to be 86.
Contrary to what might be expected, such hot weather is bad for the ice cream business.
“It’s so funny because when it gets really hot like this, (business) slows down,” Megan Zottarelli, manager of Goody’s Soda Fountain in Hyde Park, told the Statesman by phone. “But when the sun starts going down and it starts cooling off, we just get slammed.”
Since 1880, the average temperature in Boise has risen about 2 degrees, according to Anderson. Some of that increase is likely linked to development in the region, which has replaced sagebrush and bitterbrush with dark-colored asphalt — a phenomenon known as the urban heat-island effect.
But climate change is also pushing up temperatures across the globe. The six warmest years on record have been the six years since 2015. The temperature of the Earth is 2.2 degrees warmer than in pre-industrial times, and scientists have linked much of the rise to the burning of oil, natural gas and coal.
“With climate change, we expect to see more days over 100 degrees in the Treasure Valley, now and into the future,” Shawn Benner, a geoscientist at Boise State University, said in an email to the Idaho Statesman.
“These higher temperatures pose a health risk for vulnerable populations like the homeless and those who do not have access to air conditioning.”
Five heat-related emergencies were recorded on Wednesday and Thursday in Ada County, according to Ada County EMS. As one would expect, these types of emergencies are most commonly reported in midsummer, according to EMS spokesperson Ryan Larrondo. In 2020, there were 51 heat-exposure calls, and there were 45 in 2019. So far in 2021, there have been 12.
Late on Thursday afternoon, Saint Alphonsus Health System reported a total of “four or five” heat-related emergencies at its facilities in the Treasure Valley.
“People seem to be prepared and taking care of themselves,” Mark Snider, a spokesperson for the hospital, told the Statesman by phone. “We’re not seeing an influx of heat-related cases in our emergency rooms.”
At the city’s shelters, leaders are having to scramble to equip vulnerable people with tools to endure the triple-digit temperatures.
“This is very early (in the year) to be experiencing this high heat,” Jodi Stigers, executive director of Boise’s Interfaith Sanctuary, told the Statesman by phone. “This is very unusual.”
Stigers said that many guests at her overnight shelter leave during the day, and shelter employees try to supply them with provisions on especially hot days. But many of the city’s homeless are not yet in the shelter system this time in June, and Stigers worries that people might be living in cars, which can heat up by 40 degrees within an hour, according to researchers at Stanford.
“This heat that we’re experiencing today is pretty debilitating,” Stigers said. “If you’re out in it all day long, by the time you get back to our shelter or any shelter, you’re not going to be feeling great.”
Stigers encouraged residents to donate reusable water bottles, sunscreen, lip balm and popsicles to the shelter, or to hand them out if residents see someone in need on the street.
“It’s pretty darn tough to be without a house when it’s this hot,” she said.
This story was originally published June 3, 2021 at 5:16 PM.
