Hitting 100 would mean a double-figure record for triple-digit heat. Did Boise make it?
After nine blistering days of temperatures exceeding 100 degrees, Boise fell short of a new record Wednesday.
The official high temperature recorded by the National Weather Service at the Boise Airport was only 99, meaning the record for consecutive days of 100 or hotter remained at nine. This first happened in 2003, and was equaled in ‘06, ‘15 and now ‘21.
Until Wednesday, it had been at least 100 every day in Boise since June 28, according to the NWS. But a small cold front cooled temperatures just enough Wednesday to thwart that stretch from reaching 10 days.
Spencer Tangen, a meteorologist with the weather service, told the Idaho Statesman that wind from the northwest blew cooler air into the valley. “I think that is the main driver in why it’s having a harder time getting up to 100 today,” he said by phone.
An excessive heat warning is still in effect until early Friday morning.
Boise just broke a daily record on Tuesday, hitting 107 degrees. The previous record of 105 degrees was set in 2007.
The boiling weather over the past two weeks, and since early June, has extended into North Idaho and much of the Pacific Northwest. On Tuesday, it was 104 degrees in Lewiston and 95 degrees in Spokane, and on Wednesday both cities were still in the mid-90s.
Many scientists have connected the streak of severely high temperatures to human-induced climate change.
This week, smoke from wildfires in the region also has worsened air quality in the Treasure Valley. The state’s Department of Environmental Quality issued a moderate air quality advisory on Wednesday, advising residents to limit driving excursions.
Idaho Power, the region’s electricity provider, has topped its all-time peak multiple times over the past 10 days, according to Sven Berg, a spokesperson for the company.
Before last week, the company’s peak demand was 3,422 megawatts, set on July 7, 2017. Last month, on June 29, demand registered at 3,724 megawatts. On June 30, it broke the record again, hitting 3,745.
In an email to the Statesman, Berg said the record numbers show the effect of “unprecedented population and business growth” in the region. He said the company hasn’t had any heat-related outages during this stretch of weather, “and we’re working hard to keep it that way.”
Some of the electric demand comes from air conditioners being cranked up to the max in households and businesses.
“It’s been crazy busy,” the president of A-1 Heating & Air Conditioning, Pat Minegar, told the Statesman by phone. His company, which serves roughly 6,000 customers around the Treasure Valley and beyond, has been handling about 350 repair calls per day and installing around 12 new air conditioner units a day, he said.
During a different summer, he said the amount of daily calls would be half that number.
“It’s really, really difficult to keep up when it gets this hot for this long,” Minegar said. “When it gets this hot outside, it really taxes (air conditioners) that much more. Anytime you use something more … it has a tendency to break or fail.”
He recommends that residents remember to keep their air conditioner filters clean and to get their equipment serviced regularly.
A cold front arriving on Thursday is expected to cool temperatures a tad more, with the weather service predicting a high of 95 on Friday after temps in the high 90s Thursday.
But over the weekend, temperatures will rise again. The highs on Saturday and Sunday are forecast at 105.
This story was originally published July 7, 2021 at 5:41 PM.
