It was 77.9 degrees for Medford in July, the HOTTEST JULY SINCE 1911 when the National Weather Service began keeping records here. There were five RECORD TEMPERATURES, including two new record highs, 108 degrees on July 28, and 109 on July 29. There were also three new records for the warmest daily low temperature — 69, 69 and 68 on the last three days of the month. July was even drier than it normally is. Rain is always rare in summer, and whatever moisture comes usually arrives as a thundershower. This year, the only moisture that fell at the Medford airport was a trace on July 8, when the temperature dipped briefly overnight to 49 degrees, the lowest for the month. CANADA - Temperatures soared well above the 19 C average the last week of July, toppling records. Tuesday, July 28 boasted a high of 29.5 C, which was the WARMEST TEMPERATURE FOR THAT DATE ON RECORD. On Wednesday it got as hot as 30.7 C, Inuvik's HOTTEST JULY 29 ON RECORD. It came just a few degrees short of the town's all-time high of 32.8 C, which occurred on two occasions: June 17, 1999 and July 20, 2001. Thursday's high of 29.5 C just missed the 1976 record for that day, 31.1 C. They can thank the desert regions of the U.S. for those surprisingly balmy days. "I'm a bit surprised that the air has had legs. It moved all the way up without being modified. There's been no cooling. It came from the west and not from the south. Some summers that just doesn't happen."
Whitehorse set an ALL-TIME RECORD FOR THE MONTH OF JULY, on July 29 when the temperatures soared to 33.1 C. The hot air has made its way through Vancouver, northern B.C., then along to the Yukon. "British Columbia and Yukon (are) under this ridge of very high pressure, it's very extended and its very huge. It's flowing eastward and engulfing northern parts of the Northwest Territories, which would include you, and not getting down where the Canadian air is in the southern parts of the Territories." "Our forecast for all of the Northwest territories through August is warmer than normal; September and October will also be warmer than normal."
