Medford on Friday morning broke a high temperature record set 86 years ago, and local meteorologists are keeping their almanacs open expecting the mercury to keep rising.

As of about 9:45 a.m. Friday, the National Weather Service was reading a temperature of 64 degrees at its weather station near the Medford airport, according to meteorologist Sven Nelaimischkies. The temperature beats Medford’s record for the date of 61 degrees set Dec. 29, 1937.

“That might still rise a degree or two before the colder air rises aloft,” Nelaimischkies said.

Nelaimischkies said that what’s behind this morning’s warm temperatures are downslope winds from the Southern Oregon Cascades. In fact, Medford matched the 1937 record before the sun came up this morning at 5:30 a.m., the local weather station posted on X, formerly Twitter.

“It’s very similar to a Chinook wind only more isolated in the Rogue Valley,” Nelaimischkies said, referencing the warm, dry wintertime winds common in the mountainous West.

The high temperatures and their related winds are largely expected to blow over Friday afternoon, and Nelaimischkies said that temperatures are expected to fall closer to something more seasonable this weekend and into next week.

“Today will by far be the warmest of the stretch,” Nelaimischkies said.

Temperatures on the valley floor are expected to fall Saturday, Sunday and Monday to highs around 50 degrees and lows above freezing in the mid to upper 30s.

A wind advisory lasts until 7 p.m. Friday, but Nelaimischkies said the forecast calls for winds to be strongest mid-morning through the afternoon.The advisory covers portions of Jackson and Siskiyou counties that in the Rogue Valley includes Ashland, the stretch of Interstate 5 between Medford and Ashland, and the foothills of the Cascades.  

When the winds die down in Southern Oregon, Nelaimischkies expects some precipitation to fall late Friday afternoon and Friday evening, but “not super showery.”

There’s a chance of showers Saturday, but New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day should be relatively clear with at least partly sunny skies.

Some snow is expected to fall in upper elevations Tuesday and Wednesday, and Nelaimischkies said he sees “some stuff at the tail end of next week,” but not much in the long-term forecast. 

“I as a skier am hopeful with my fingers crossed,” Nelaimischkies said, adding that he’s “not seeing anything that will bring any high amounts of snow that will allow them to open.”

The Mt. Ashland Ski Area has delayed its season opening because of a lack of snow. For more information, see mtashland.com.