Break out the sunhats, shades and sunblock, it’s about to get hot out there.

Temperatures in Bend are forecast to climb in the high 80s this weekend while Madras could see the mercury climb to a toasty 95 degrees. Redmond will likely top out at 93 degrees. Overnight temperatures will cool into the 50s.

The hot weather will peak on Monday before a return to more mild temperatures next week in the 70s.

“We will inch up close to 100 for the area, but it doesn’t look like we quite get there,” said Cole Evans, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Pendleton.

Evans said the incoming weather pattern is due to high atmospheric pressure. Heat will build up in the area until a new weather pattern next week “mixes everything up” and cools down the region.

The warm weather is expected to send legions of people out to this area’s parks, pools and waterways. Juniper Swim & Fitness Center’s ever-popular outdoor pool and waterslide will be open Saturday and Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m. (weather permitting) and will open on a daily basis starting June 16.

High waters

It’s still early in the season for fuels to be critically dry so the National Weather Service is not anticipating any red flag warnings for wildfire. But the warm temperatures will accelerate snowpack runoff into the Deschutes and other rivers.

Due to the above normal snowpack conditions in the Central Oregon Cascades, river-goers will need to be extra cautious when swimming, boating or floating as water levels will be higher than normal.

Jeremy Giffin, the Deschutes Basin Watermaster, says demand for agricultural water is higher this year because there’s more water available in Wickiup Reservoir. That means higher releases into the river.

“The snowpack was the best we have seen in many years. Crescent Lake has filled the best we have seen in the last few years. We are the best we have seen in Wickiup since 2018,” said Giffin. “All of the (irrigation) districts are receiving more water than they have in the past.”

Hot weather to continue

Looking ahead into the rest of summer, state climatologist Larry O’Neill said conditions through the end of July could look a lot like this weekend, with hot and dry weather the norm.

“The summer monsoon, which produces showers and thunderstorms throughout Central and Eastern Oregon and the intermountain west during summer, is projected to be weaker than normal,” said O’Neill.

Those conditions have pros and cons for Central Oregon.

“The good news is there may be less lightning than normal from the relative lack of

Thunderstorms,” he said. “The bad news is that the hot and dry conditions will likely drive much of the region toward moderate drought development again this summer.”

The warm conditions will increase wildfire risk as summer progresses, said O’Neill

“We expect with the incoming hot spell over the next week that both soil and fuel moisture levels will dry out to what is typical of mid July.”