By Ysabelle Kempe, The Bellingham Herald

The weather might usually be small talk, but last weekend’s record-breaking heat wave was anything but ordinary.

Temperatures in Bellingham climbed into the upper 90s last weekend, and northern Whatcom County reached 100 degrees at noon on Monday, June 28. Although hot days are to be expected during the summer months, experts say that human-caused climate change will make heat waves like this weekend’s more frequent and severe.

“This heat wave, stunning as it is, is the type of thing scientists have been warning about,” said Simon Donner, a climatologist at the University of British Columbia. “This particular event is quite unusual not just in the breaking records, but in the length of it.”

Since the Industrial Revolution, which occurred around a century and a half ago, the planet has warmed by almost 1.2 degrees Celsius, or 2.2 degrees Fahrenheit. So while heat waves may be a relatively normal summer occurrence, they are happening in conjunction with the rise in baseline temperature occurring due to climate change, said Washington State Climatologist Nick Bond.

“It’s a tall person that puts on their elevator shoes,” Bond said. “Climate change is the elevator shoes.”

Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington drew the connection between last weekend’s heat wave and climate change in a statement on Monday. Murray is currently advocating for Congress to invest in combating climate change through President Joe Biden’s infrastructure package.

“Today will be the hottest day on record for nearly all of Washington state,” Murray said. “The climate crisis isn’t some pending existential threat, we’re dealing with it right now.”

Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington issued a similar statement supporting the inclusion of climate measures in the federal infrastructure bill, saying that “Washington state was not built for triple-digit temperatures.”

In Whatcom County, the effects of further global warming and more extreme heat events are far-ranging. Experts predict higher temperatures to impact the region’s agriculture, salmon and public health.