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Record heat expected for Northwest, already parched by drought

Though only six days old, summer is wasting no time and is forecast to bake the Northwest with record-setting 100-plus temperatures Saturday even as the region ...

(CNN) — Though only six days old, summer is wasting no time and is forecast to bake the Northwest with record-setting 100-plus temperatures Saturday even as the region reels from drought.

A stretch of coast between Seattle and Portland is forecast to roast in temperatures between 110 and 115 degrees, thought Seattle itself should be in the 90s, according to CNN meteorologists.

The heat will penetrate inland, to the Mountain West, where thermometers could hit 105 degrees in interior Washington, Oregon, Utah, Nevada and a far northwest corner of California.

Among communities expecting record heat are Portland; Boise, Idaho; Yakima, Washington; and Spokane, Washington, according to forecasters.

The National Weather Service predicted a “very hot weekend in store for much of the western US,” the agency tweeted. “Stay cool and beat the heat.”

In fact, record highs are expected over the next few days across the Northwest, and heat warnings are posted throughout the West for the first full weekend of summer, forecasters said.

That means a threat of fire, so red flag warnings are waving from the Northwest coast to the Sierras as officials fear thunderstorms could spark wildfires, meteorologists said.

Meanwhile, “virtually 100%” of the Pacific Northwest remains abnormally dry or in a drought, the National Integrated Drought Information System says.

On the other side of the country, severe thunderstorms are predicted to rip across parts of the Appalachians to the Atlantic seaboard.

Isolated tornadoes and hail are possible threats, forecasters said.

Also, heavy rains have prompted flash flood watches in much of the Ohio Valley to Pennsylvania and New England for Saturday.

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