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80 degrees and sunny in Forks? High temps hit Western Washington as 'blob' reemerges

As our unusually high temperatures continue this week, a "blob" of warm water has been spotted in the Pacific Ocean.

As our unusually high temperatures continue this week, a "blob" of warm water has been spotted in the Pacific Ocean.

University of Washington meteorologist Cliff Mass points out the surface temperature of the north Pacific is, in areas, warmer than usual, "with some of it over 2C warmer than normal."

The reason for the phenomenon, often referred to as the "blob," is because of high pressure over the Gulf of Alaska. And the blob will stick around as long as there is persistent high pressure over the Pacific.

The large region of warm surface water in the north Pacific was first detected in 2013. It continued though 2015 and is at least partially to blame for the death of thousands of seabirds, after the change in water impacted their main source of food - zooplankton.

Also see | Study: ‘The blob' correlates with explosion of marine toxins

Also see | Study: Global 'blobs' getting more extreme

The blob was also linked to a rise in onshore temperatures and was linked to one of the hottest years in the region on record.

Meanwhile, we just witnessed some unseasonably high temperatures.

According to the National Weather Service, it was 80 degrees in Forks on Tuesday. Numerous records were broken or tied, including:

Sea-Tac: 72 degrees (old record was 70 degrees, set in 1974 and again in 2002)

Bellingham: 71 degrees (tied with 2015)

Quillayute: 80 degrees (old record of 70 degrees in 1972)

We’ve seen temperatures warm into the 80s during October before, but what about Forks? That small town where vampires claim to live due to the chilly climate and lack of sun. How often does the northwest tip of Washington get into the 80s? Well, apparently not that often, but it has happened before.

Records for Quillayute Airport go back to 1966, and since then we’ve seen temperatures hit 80 or warmer eight times. The warmest Forks has been in October was 83 set back in 1988. The reason why many of us don’t remember an 80-degree day in Forks is because before Tuesday, we hadn’t hit 80 in 22 years.

So, even though it does happen, it doesn’t come all that often for this area.

For those that are curious, the warmest Forks has ever seen was 99 degrees in August of 1981.

Warm days like these will likely disappear as the sun continues to lower along the horizon as we approach the winter solstice. However, with El Nino setting in, we tend to average warm and dry which means we’ll likely be talking about more records for the next few months.

WATCH: What is El Niño?

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