PORTLAND, Ore. -- People in the Pacific Northwest were enduring another scorching day Thursday as temperatures pushed toward triple digits, affecting outdoor activities such as transit and sporting events.
Temperatures once again flirted with records as residents of the region face one of its most prolonged heat waves in years.
The expected high Thursday of 106 degrees in Portland, Ore., was a degree short of the city's record -- last matched Aug. 10, 1981.
Records for the warmest Aug. 2 fell throughout the region Wednesday, including in Medford, Ore., where it was 112 degrees.
In Seattle, the high Thursday was forecast to be 91 degrees.
The National Weather Service tweeted: "Take home message for everyone else: it could be worse."
Additionally, smoke from dozens of fires burning in British Columbia has snaked into Washington and Oregon, causing authorities to issue burn bans and causing breathing problems for people with asthma.
However, the National Weather Service also said the hazy conditions have eased the oppressive heat in the region by partially blocking the sun.
The smoke is expected to lessen this weekend, but the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency prohibited all outdoor burning in the greater Seattle area -- including charcoal barbecues.
The heat led Major League Soccer to change the start time of Sunday's match between the Portland Timbers and Los Angeles Galaxy.
Initially scheduled for the afternoon, the match will now start at 11 a.m.
It's the same story for the Portland Thorns of the National Women's Soccer League; a match originally scheduled for Saturday afternoon will now start at 11 a.m. The teams play on an artificial surface that heats up in the sun.
Portland-area commuters expected another day of slow trains and lengthy delays.
Since metal expands in the heat, the TriMet mass transit agency barred light-rail transit from traveling faster than 35 mph. In addition, overhead copper wires sag in oppressive heat, and rails develop kinks that can lead to derailment.
Riders faced delays of at least 30 minutes.
Along with heat-related issues, a computer malfunction tossed the agency's dispatch and payment-processing systems into disarray. The agency said it would not collect fares until today at the earliest.
Hun Taing said she usually takes the train to get to her job in downtown Portland but that she switched to an air-conditioned car because of the delays. She and a co-worker, Heather Heater, had a casual work meeting Wednesday at Director Park, dipping their toes in the fountain as children splashed in the water.
They both have air conditioning at home -- something they once lacked -- and expressed more concern for the homeless and elderly than for their personal comfort.
"I was in an apartment without AC when I just had my twins, and it was really difficult," Taing said Wednesday. "We had to pack ourselves in the car and just go somewhere, drive somewhere, because that apartment on the second floor was too hot for the infants."
Outside an Amazon warehouse in Kent, Wash., hundreds of people lined up in a hot parking lot for a job fair, waiting to enter an air-conditioned tent to check in. One potential applicant left after being told that he couldn't leave his dog in his car, even with the windows open.
Ron Joslin, 55, of Tacoma broiled in a lavender shirt and striped tie as he waited. He said he's been out of work since April, but the forecast almost kept him from the job fair, he said. His wife insisted he go.
"She heard about it on the news and was like, 'You need to go there.' I said, 'It's going to be 100 degrees.' She said, 'You need to go there.' She's tired of me being around the house."
Amazon took lengths to keep the potential employees comfortable, handing out iced bottles of water. Some temporary workers hired for the day ferried trays of cups overflowing with blue, red and yellow shaved ice to the sweltering applicants.
In Washington's capital, Olympia, Dave Thysell, 66, was two-thirds of the way through a 13-mile walk, a trek he said he made earlier than he usually does.
"I never exercise early, but today I did," he said Wednesday. "I don't like the extreme heat." In Olympia, "anything above 75 or 80 is too much."
Information for this article was contributed by Gene Johnson and Rachel La Corte of The Associated Press.
A Section on 08/04/2017