Extreme heat continues to sizzle across the Northwest. It started over the weekend, and will linger for another day or two. Drivers will need to do everything they can to stay cool and keep their trucks and trailers in tip-top shape.
Over the past few days, all-time record highs were set in Vancouver (112 degrees), Olympia (110), Spokane (109) and Seattle (107), Washington; and Pendleton (117), Salem (113), Portland (112), Redmond (112) and Eugene (111), Oregon. Other locations in these states, as well as northern Idaho and western Montana, set daily and monthly record highs.
Except for the Seattle and Portland metropolitan areas, the National Weather Service still has excessive heat warnings and watches, as well as heat advisories, in the previously mentioned areas for Wednesday and Thursday. Temperatures will again exceed 100 degrees, with daily record highs likely in some spots. The heat will spread into far northern California and western Nevada Wednesday.
The dangerous heat also will continue across the border in Canada, where an all-time record high for the country was set Monday when the mercury reached 121 degrees in Lytton, British Columbia.
Triple-digit heat, possibly record-breaking, will scorch the eastern two-thirds of Montana beginning Thursday, lasting through the Independence Day weekend. This will affect places such as Great Falls, Cut Bank, Glasgow, Helena, Billings and Miles City.
Excessive heat will also impact drivers Wednesday in the Northeast. Temperatures in the 90s, combined with high humidity, will lead to heat index values of 100 to 107 degrees on the Interstate 95 corridor from Philadelphia all the way to Boston and Maine.
Other notable weather
Severe thunderstorms could slow down truckers at times Wednesday in the Northeast. The main threat will be gusty straight-line winds, but isolated tornadoes and large hail are possible, as well as locally heavy downpours and flash flooding.
Impact on freight
It’s possible that many drivers will be heading into the Northwest as the heat wave continues. The FreightWaves Headhaul Index (HAUL) for the region appears in red, indicating more inbound freight than outbound freight, leading to loose capacity.
HAUL is the difference between the level of outbound loads and inbound loads for a particular market or region. The map above shows a HAUL snapshot of the freight regions as of Monday morning.
Click here for more FreightWaves articles by Nick Austin.
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