West Sizzles Under Record Heat Mother’s Day Weekend Into The Upcoming Week

Kris Ronald May 11, 2026

Record-breaking heat is expected across the West through Mother’s Day Weekend into the early part of the week ahead.

This heat is more of a ‘slow boil’, building bit by bit every day. It is expected to peak by Tuesday with daily high temperatures expected to fall in cities like Las Vegas, Boise, Salt Lake City and Colorado Springs.

Slow Sizzle

Temperatures in most spots will warm substantially on Monday, into the 80s and 90s across much of the Intermountain West and Northwest. The Desert Southwest will see temps climb into the mid-100s.

Heat will continue to build and will peak across much of the Northwest to Rockies by Tuesday. Portland, Seattle, Denver and Billings will reach the 70s and 80s. Salt Lake City and Boise climb to the 90s. And the Southwest remain in the 100s, but may sink a bit from Monday.

If you're looking to cool off, head to the Pacific Coast. Temperatures there will be sheltered by the chilly waters. Highs will likely get stuck in the 60s to near 70.

What Is Causing This?

The setup here is actually pretty straight forward. We have a ridge of high pressure that is set up across the West. This means that the jet stream is pushed north across the West. The areas south of the jet stream in this ridge pattern tend to see warm temperatures and clear skies.

The stronger the area of high pressure, generally the more stable the air and the hotter the temps. While this high isn’t record breaking, it is impressive. The graphic below give a visual representation of this:

Any relief?

While there is technically relief this week, it isn’t much. The temperatures do drop but they remain above average.

But this ridge will shift to the East, which means that we can start to see temperatures moderate by next week.

And you can even see this on the long-range forecasts from the Climate Prediction Center, pictured below. The West is expecting more normal temperatures in the longer term, and with the ridge shifting east, the warmth will spread that way as well.

Rob Shackelfordis a meteorologist and climate scientist at weather.com. He received his undergraduate and master’s degrees from the University of Georgia studying meteorology and experimenting with alternative hurricane forecasting tools.