As of Friday, 3 cooling centers are open until 10 PM, +1 more opening on Saturday.
The decision to open is made on a day by day basis. Heat wave runs until Tuesday now, after having been extended twice.
The cooling centers open Friday, July 5, and Saturday, July 6, noon to 10 p.m.:
Cook Plaza, 19421 S.E. Stark St., Gresham(link is external)
Portland Covenant Church, 4046 N.E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Portland(link is external)
The Hugo, 6221 N.E. 82nd Ave., Portland
Opening Saturday:
Congregation Beth Israel: 1972 N.W. Flanders St., Portland
Multnomah County Library is also extending hours until 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday, July 5 and 6, at the Central (801 S.W. 10th Ave.,(link is external)
Portland(link is external)) and Gresham (385 N.W. Miller Ave., Gresham(link is external)) libraries with bottled water on hand, to provide additional places where people can go during the hottest parts of the day and evening.
I’m moving to Portland from Dallas in a couple weeks. The fact that it will be hotter there today than it is here is bananas to me.
The big difference is, heat like that here is an abnormality. Generally 7-10 days a year and that’s it, but we’ve been getting more and more lately.
Same with below freezing. Most days it’s pretty mild.
In Dallas, our proper winter lasts like two weeks a year, and every two years or so we get icy roads and maybe a little snow. But the 100+ degree days, man…August fucking suuuuucks. I’m not moving there because of the climate, but I am definitely not going to be looking fondly at Texas heat waves in my rear view mirror.