Thermometer

Medford’s heat wave will almost certainly extend to a fourth day of record-shattering, dangerously hot temperatures Monday, with another record threatened on Tuesday.

However, some relief from the heat is expected by the second half of the week, according to Mike Petrucelli, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Medford.

The Excessive Heat Warning in effect since the Fourth of July will end at 9 p.m. Tuesday thanks to cooler nighttime temperatures in the forecast and highs that — though still hovering around triple digits — will be lower than Monday’s forecast high of 111 degrees Fahrenheit.

Monday’s forecast will shatter the record of 104 degrees set for the date in 1952. Tuesday has a forecast high of 108, which could beat the record of 106 degrees set in 2002.

“It’s gonna be close,” Petrucelli said of Tuesday’s record. 

Medford has been breaking records since Friday, when meteorologists recorded a high of 109 at the airport, easily topping the 102 mark set in 1926, according to data from the National Weather Service office in Medford.

Saturday’s high in Medford of 111 reported by the NWS-Medford website at 5 p.m. smashed the previous mark of 104 that NWS local lead meteorologist Dan Weygand said was set in 1922. Forecasters had warned that the mercury at the airport could have reached 113 degrees and as high as 115 degrees on Saturday.

And on Sunday, temperatures climbed to 108, breaking the record of 102 set in 2014, according to the NWS-Medford website.

Forecasters Friday extended the Excessive Heat Warning for the region. The new advisory warns of “dangerously hot conditions” through at least 9 p.m. Tuesday in Jackson County and portions of Josephine, Curry, and Siskiyou counties.

Monday’s high is forecast to be 111, which would eclipse a record high of 108 set in 1952, he said.

Tuesday could see a high of 108, while the temperature is forecast to drop to a still-sweltering 101 on Wednesday, according to the NWS website.

Average high temperatures in July for Medford are in the upper-80s, according to usclimatedata.com.

See rv-times.com for the latest updates on Red Flag warning fire weather, local cooling shelters and the continuing heat wave.