Kori Bellwood dunks her chicken in a pool of water to help keep it cool at the Yamhill County Fairgrounds Tuesday as the temperature topped 100.
Marcus Larson
News-Register

To give local residents a place to find relief from the extreme heat, Hillside Retirement Communities is opening its Traditions building to all as long as our 100-plus heat wave continues.

Traditions is the first building off West Second Street as you turn into the Hillside campus. It will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Senior citizens in need of transportation can call Hillside at 503-472-9534 for a ride. "We're very happy to be able to help," said interim director Allison Smith-Tompkins.

Every year, she said, she reads about seniors stricken with heat exhaustion, sometimes fatally. And she doesn't want that to happen here.

McMinnville's temperature reached 105 degrees late Tuesday afternoon, breaking the all-time record high for July 28, set in 1998.

Forecasters say Wednesday should be even hotter. That would smash the existing record of 100 degrees for July 29, set in 1931.

Today is the second in a row featuring a triple-digit high in Yamhill County, and forecasters are predicting the heat wave will continue at least through Thursday. Temperatures typically run about 20 degrees cooler during the last week of July, averaging 83 degrees.

Friday should bring the first sign of relief - a temperature climbing into only the high 90s.

During the heat wave, people can come to Hillside to relax in air-conditioned comfort while enjoying a cool drink of water, sharing some snacks, watching TV and taking part in activities designed to take their minds off the weather.

The McMinnville Public Library has joined other libraries across the state in also turning itself into a cooling center this week. The air-conditioned facility will be operating on its regular 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. schedule today and Thursday.

In Newberg, the Chehalem Senior Center is also offering its air-conditioned space as a respite from the heat. The center, which normally closes at 4, will be open until 8 every day this week.

Visitors will find water, snacks and activities available. Seniors needing transportation can call 503-837-9404. Here are some other heat-related facts:

• Temperature signs at McMinnville businesses showed blistering temperatures Tuesday - 111 and 112 degrees. The signs, exposed to direct sun and surrounded by stretches of heat-absorbing asphalt, typically read several degrees higher than the official temperature.

• Because of the heat, Linfield College, which is only partially air-conditioned, closed at 3 p.m. Tuesday and plans to close at 3 p.m. again today. College officials said they made the decision out of concern for employees who work outdoors or in uncooled offices.

• Medical units responded to two incidents involving people cooling off by taking a dip in local rivers Monday. In one case, a man drowned in the Willamette River near Newberg. In another, a West Valley youth broke a leg jumping into the water.

And over at Spong's Landing, in Keizer, a 14-year-old boy drowned while cooling off in the Willamette.

• Some residents on the east side of Carlton lost power, and thus cooling capacity, for a little over an hour Saturday due to a power pole fire. The blaze broke out about 7:30 p.m. at Hendricks and Modafari roads, just east of thecity limits.

Power flickered several times, then went out. PGE crews had power restored by about 8:40 p.m.

Bill Nicholson, PGE vice president for distribution, said the company was monitoring supplies constantly. He said the company had crews ready to respond on short notice to outages.

Nicholson advised customers to lower their energy consumption by using common sense.

He suggested opening windows during the cool part of the day, to let cool air into the house, for example, and keeping them closed, with the shades drawn, during the heat of the day.

He recommended using portable fans or ceiling fans to supplement air conditioners, as they draw less power. Turn on the A/C only when conditions become unbearable, he urged.

Nicholson also offered this advice:

Avoid use of your oven. Grill outdoors or use your microwave.

Keep refrigerator and freezer doors closed as much as possible. It may feel good to stand in front of an open refrigerator, but it allows warm air to enter, making the appliance draw more energy and work harder.

There’s more online

Continue to visit NewsRegister.com and read print editions of the News-Register for updates on the heat wave forecast through the middle of next week.

How are your family and friends beating the heat? Send us your best pictures depicting great ways to escape climbing temperatures and we'll post them on the website.

Both still photos and videos are welcome. But please be sure to include the names of people in the photos, as well as that of the photographer.

Pictures may be considered for publication in print editions as well. Please e-mail them to news@newsregister.com