Extreme heat warning active for Oregon until Wednesday night – temperatures as high as 98 degrees

At 12:54 p.m. on Sunday, the National Weather Service released an extreme heat warning in effect until Wednesday at 9 p.m. for Eastern Columbia River Gorge of Oregon, Lower Columbia Basin of Oregon, Foothills of the Northern Blue Mountains of Oregon, Foothills of the Southern Blue Mountains of Oregon and North Central Oregon.

"Dangerously hot conditions with temperatures up to 98 degrees to 104 degrees expected. This will pose a major to locally extreme risk of heat-related illness," describes the weather service. "An alternative scenario is lingering cloud cover from possible thunderstorms from southern Oregon may result in lower than forecast afternoon temperatures or higher than forecast overnight low temperatures."

"Heat related illnesses increase significantly during extreme heat ev