Strange weather soaks Southwest and heats Northwest
PORTLAND -- It's hot and dry in the Northwest -- and a fire in Central Washington has burned nearly 7,000 acres -- but it's just the opposite in places that are often parched.
The desert is drenched. Dramatic video shows two people rescued from the roof of a pickup truck that was totally submerged after a flash flood, north of Phoenix -- it's a snapshot of monsoon season in Arizona.
Tucson just recorded its wettest July on record -- it's been that type of summer.
Unusually wet in the Southwest, unusually hot in the Northwest.
So hot that stores in normally mild Portland are running out of air conditioners.
"I'm going to stay in my house and be cool!" one resident says.
Meals on Wheels is delivering fans to the elderly as the city braces for perhaps its hottest day ever.
Three times in history, Portland has reached 107 degrees. By Thursday, the temperature could hit 108.
"Dangerously hot," says KOIN-TV meteorologist Claire Anderson. "We could see at least four days of 100 degree plus temperatures in the Portland metro area -- that just doesn't happen a lot here."
On Tuesday afternoon, there were temperature readings well over 120 degrees, which is why Portland residents are doing anything to stay cool.