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Extreme heat shatters records, forces businesses to shut down temporarily in Highway 58 communities

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Monday’s extreme heat forced the Oakridge Dairy Queen to send employees home and post signs explaining that it was too hot for the restaurant to operate. Doug Bates/The Herald

By DOUG BATES/Editor/The Herald — So, how hot is it in Oakridge? Too hot for making ice cream Blizzards.

The Oakridge Dairy Queen and several other businesses in the Highway 58 corridor had to close temporarily Monday out of concern for the safety of their employees and customers.

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A sign tells the story at the Oakridge Dairy Queen’s drive-up window. Doug Bates/The Herald

Monday’s temperatures were supposed to be a bit cooler than the record-shattering triple-digit temperatures that broiled much of the Pacific Northwest on Sunday. But contrary to the forecasts, extreme heat returned with a vengeance Monday. The National Weather Service forecasted Oakridge’s high at 107 degrees for the day, but thermometers in shaded spots around the community were displaying temperatures as high as 114 or higher.

The dangerous heat — bringing the highest temperatures ever recorded in Oakridge, Pleasant Hill and Lowell — forced the Oakridge Dairy Queen to send employees home and post signs explaining that it was too hot for the restaurant to operate. Other businesses around town, such as the hardware store and pizza parlor, followed suit.

In Eugene, the U.S. track and field trials were halted Sunday afternoon and fans were asked to evacuate the stadium due to extreme heat.

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One online forecast for Oakridge on Sunday had temperatures reaching 116 degrees. Doug Bates/The Herald

Officials in Portland shut down light rail and streetcars until Tuesday due to high temperatures and some districts halted summer school bus service and people braced for possibly the hottest day of the scorcher. And the city’s Parks & Recreation department closed outdoor pools Monday, saying it was too hot and dangerous for employees to be outside.

In Seattle, the school district on Monday canceled summer meal service at schools “to protect our students, families, and staff” so people wouldn’t be venturing out at mid-day.

And there were persistent worries about wildfires in the region that was already dealing with an epic drought. Fire crews were positioned ahead of time in areas where fire risk was high and counties and cities across the region enacted burn bans — in some cases even temporarily prohibiting personal fireworks for the July 4 holiday weekend.

And it isn’t even July yet. So what’s going on? The Pacific Northwest is experiencing a days-long heatwave that forecasters have called “historic,” dangerous and a glimpse of things to come as climate change affects global weather patterns.

The temperatures started rising Friday and aren’t expected to cool until Tuesday, with the mercury registering more than 30 degrees higher than normal in many areas of Washington and Oregon. The cause is a “heat dome” that has affected parts of the West for about two weeks. Justin Pullin, a weather service meteorologist in Seattle, said a strong ridge of high pressure is causing temperatures more associated with Arizona than the Northwest.

And don’t expect Tuesday’s “cooling” to be all that comfortable, either. The weather service forecasts high temperatures in the 90s the rest of the week.

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