A temperature spike during which the mercury will climb into the 90s at some North Olympic Peninsula locales is expected beginning today.
And just as quickly as the temperatures rise, they’ll fall to near-normal conditions by Saturday, the National Weather Service forecast Tuesday.
Dennis D’Amico, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Seattle, said the three-day heat wave is expected to affect the entire Olympic Peninsula.
A sampling of forecast high temperatures for Thursday: 89 in Port Angeles, 86 in Sequim, 84 in Port Townsend, 88 in Port Ludlow, 91 in Brinnon, 93 in Forks, 91 in Neah Bay and an absolutely balmy 78 degrees for mile-high Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park.
“It’s going to be a good time to go to the beach,” D’Amico said.
The heat is being caused by a combination of a high pressure system over British Columbia and offshore winds which will draw the heat from desert inland areas to the coastal region, according to the Weather Service.
The winds will do an about-face by late Friday, with breezes off the Pacific bringing high temperatures back into the 60s and 70s under mostly sunny skies, forecasters said.