Hotter and drier for the 4th. Extreme heat looms for Friday and beyond.

Today : Wednesday will be a sunny and seasonal day. Highs will be in the mid-60s for the Cascades and Blues, with mid to upper-90s for the Kittitas/Yakima valleys and foothills. Expect low-90s to be possible in the Lower Columbia Basin. Today will feature northwesterly winds gusting between 20-35 MPH in the Kittitas and Yakima valleys.

Tonight : Skies stay clear tonight, and overnight lows will resemble what we saw for Tuesday night. It’ll be in the mid-40s in the Cascades, with low-50s for the Blues. Expect mid to upper-50s for the Kittitas/Yakima valleys, Blue Foothills, and Lower Columbia Basin.

Extended : For the 4th of July, highs will rise to about 5-10 degrees above average (mid-90s in the Tri-Cities).Fire fuel energy will be into the 76th percentile (compared to historical values) in Kittitas and Yakima counties. Please keep this in mind when messing around with fireworks. We prefer you leave it up to the professionals! We trend even hotter for Friday through Tuesday, as highs will jump to values 15-20-degrees above average (near 105-degrees in the Tri-Cities). For now, Tuesday looks to be the hottest day.

The heatwave for Friday through Tuesday will trigger multiple First Alert High Impact Fire Days. We’ve already mentioned the risk for the 4th, but another High Impact Fire Day looms for the 5th in Kittitas/Yakima counties and the Blue Mountains. Beyond that, everyday is suspect. However, Extreme Impact Days are certainly possible for Kittitas/Yakima counties and the Blues on Monday and Tuesday. By then, fire fuel energy could be above the 85th percentile compared to historical values–very dangerous stuff!

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