Summer sizzle underway, no relief in sight

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Lilyanna shows her affection for Mt. Rainier on a visit to Lake Washington's Mount Baker Beach. All our beaches will be very popular this weekend as temperatures start to soar near 90. Viewer pic from Amanda in Seattle.

Hot, hot, hot. Excessive heat watches and warnings will be up this weekend. Summer certainly in full force for much of the Pacific Northwest. Temps soaring close to 90 for Seattle and even hotter for the South Sound all the way down to Portland. The thousands of cyclists doing the Seattle-to-Portland ride will certainly want to think about not pushing themselves too hard. I know that a lot of folks in other parts of the country might be amused that we call this a heat wave. But, temperatures will be 10-20 degrees above normal for this time of year. This is hot for us. And because percentages of homes that have air conditioning are very low in the Pacific Northwest-- this hot weather will affects lots and lots of people.

Some important things to note:
-stay hydrated
-avoid exercise or exerting yourself in late afternoon/eveing
-sunscreen
-clothes made of light fabrics and light in color
-find air conditioning (malls, movie theatres, senior center)
-cold shower and fan also can be effective.
-be careful around lakes/rivers/water and put life jackets on kids!

TODAY total sunshine from sunrise to sunset. Highs 85-90 for Seattle/Central Sound. South Sound/Cascade Foothills/Portland and Willamette Valley will be in 90-95 range. Cooler on the coast with a few clouds. The Oregon Cascades could see some pop up thunderstorms in the afternoon, some of them could drift over the Willamette Valley and into part of SE Washington-- but a better chance of that Saturday and Sunday.

SATURDAY looks sunny and hot. EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING from the morning until Sunday afternoon. Could be very muggy too the further south you are. The monsoon flow from the desert SW provides a good chance of thunderstorms in the Cascades and even along the I-5 corridor. Highs around 90 for Seattle, mid 90s for Portland.

SUNDAY more sun and yep, pretty hot and muggy again. EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING will continue at least until Sunday night. Air temperatures between 90-95, but with the humidity it will feel even hotter. Cascade thunderstorms will likely work further north and could drift over the Puget Sound lowlands. Big rivalry match with the Timbers coming into town to take on the Sounders. It will be hot match at CenturyLink.

NEXT WEEK we wont see much for relief. We're going to bumping up towards 90 several days again around Seattle. In Portland temperatures will inch towards 100. This warm streak is something we haven't seen in many years. The last time Seattle saw a heat wave like this was in 2009. Portland hasn't seen a 100 degree temperature since August 2012. It's summer. Enjoy... or at least get used to it.