Bodhi the dog cools off in the water as a group of kayakers paddle by on the Deschutes River in Bend. 06/04/25 (Dean Guernsey/The Bulletin)

Central Oregon is in for another hot week, with temperatures breaking records Monday before cooling slightly later in the week.

Monday’s forecasted high of 95 degrees in Redmond broke the record of 94 degrees, according to Camden Plunkett, meteorologist with the National Weather Service Office in Pendleton. 

“We will probably break that record today,” Plunkett told The Bulletin Monday morning. “We’ve never hit 100 degrees at Redmond. We’re not forecasting it, but we’re going to be fairly close.”

The National Weather Service predicts high heat from the weekend will continue through Tuesday but temperatures are expected to cool throughout the week, dropping to a high near 72 degrees Friday and a low of 40 degrees Friday night. At higher elevations near Elk Lake and Mount Bachelor, Monday and Tuesday were also expected to be the hottest days with a cool end to the week in the low 60s. 

Since 1948 when the National Weather Service began preserving weather data for the Central Oregon region, there have only been around 30 recorded days with temperatures above 90 degrees in early June, but daily highs have been trending upward over the past five years. In 2020, the maximum temperature observed for the Bend-Redmond area for June was 77 degrees; in 2024, it had risen to 94 degrees.

Average temperatures are also trending upwards, but are in the normal range of historical observation, Plunkett said. The normal June average temperature for the Bend-Redmond area is 60 degrees, but the June averages have surpassed that number every year since 2020.

These high early-season temperatures contribute to increasing fire risk across Oregon, particularly in the drier desert areas. Although winds in the Bend-Redmond area are low this week, Plunkett said Central Oregon has been “abnormally dry this year,” and these are exactly the conditions residents should be paying attention to during fire season. 

“Through September there is an above normal chance of significant wildfires for Central Oregon,” Plunkett said. “We saw last year we had the outbreaks just after July 4th in East and Central Oregon. It was a strong ridge of high pressure, really anomalous heat and then we had thunder on top of that. This is a month earlier. A lot of the fuels up in the mountain areas are still greener, but local stations are certainly drying out.”

In May, Gov. Tina Kotek emphasized that the 2025 wildfire season for Oregon is expected to be more intense and called on the public to be prepared.

“Record-setting wildfire seasons across the west are getting longer and more devastating. What we know to be an ‘average fire season’ has long passed,” Kotek said. “Last summer’s devastating wildfires called for sacrifice, courage, and cooperation from everyone involved. Our state has spent the off-season preparing to take on what we know will be another dangerous summer.”