Summer Making a Return to the Western Third of the Country

Temperatures in the western U.S. will be back on the upswing during the last week of August, following an extended period of cooler weather. Here is a look at when you can expect the return of summer in this part of the country.

Western U.S. Forecast to See Climbing Temperatures

A large portion of the West has seen the coolest temperatures since last spring over the last few days. Cities such as Seattle have spent the end of the week hanging out in the 60s for highs. While still warm by any standard, Las Vegas finally fell below the century mark for a high on Friday, ending a long run of triple digit temperatures. Sin City notched a streak of 64 days above 100 degrees when the temperature topped out at 96 degrees.

The fall like weather is about to come to a screeching halt as heat will build beginning early in the week. Some record high temperatures could be in danger of falling across some portions of the West, particularly across California and the Desert Southwest. While the return of the heat may be welcomed by some hoping to squeeze out more summer fun, the change in the weather pattern will also raise the risk of wildfires.

How warm will it get? Forecasters are predicting that some areas will see a temperature swing of as much as 35 degrees when compared to last week's readings. This will make the uptick in temperatures even more noticeable.

A rare potent August storm ushered in temperatures that landed about 20 to 25 degrees below the average for this time of the year. Some locations experienced new daily record lows, making it feel more like October than August.

For instance, the mercury struggled to climb out of the 70s throughout much of northern and central portions of the California valley areas on Friday. Places such as Sacramento will enjoy one more day with highs in the 70s on Saturday before the warmup begins on Sunday. The capital city of the Golden State is forecast to hit a high in the upper 80s on Sunday before inching back up into the 90s on Monday. The readings will hover in the upper 90s by Tuesday in Sacramento, marking a change of almost 25 degrees since Friday. Mostly sunny skies will make it feel even warmer during this time period.

The North Bay region of San Francisco will see the temperatures approach the triple digits on Tuesday. This heat will feel quite noticeable after the area only hit the 70s on Friday.

Looking at Other Areas of the West

The Pacific Northwest will also see a brief warming trend, however, it will not be quite as drastic as what is happening in California and the Southwest. After seeing another day of highs in the 60s on Saturday, Seattle will be back in the 70s on Sunday. The mercury will take a dip again back into the 60s for highs by the middle of the week. But warmer and sunnier weather is on the horizon for the Emerald City just in time for the Labor Day holiday weekend.

As is typical, temperatures will trend slightly higher to the south in Portland. This city along the border of Washington and Oregon will threaten to crack the 80-degree mark on Sunday with readings solidly in the 80s by Monday. Another cooldown on Tuesday will not last long with temperatures forecast to potentially hit 90 degrees on Friday. Other than an isolated threat of rain showers on Tuesday, it will be mostly sunny and dry throughout the week in the Rose City.