LA GRANDE — An unofficial record high temperature has the La Grande community searching for cool air.

According to National Weather Service Meteorologist Colby Goatley, Tuesday, Aug. 15, set an unofficial record high at 104 degrees in La Grande, three degrees higher than the official record high reported in 2003. In response to this week’s heat wave, the Union County Warming Station & Resource Center’s cooling station has expanded its walk-in hours for the week.

Although the cooling station is up and running for the summer, usually its walk-in hours are on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m, with Tuesday and Thursday open by appointment only. However, the cooling center opened up its walk-in hours to every day for the rest of the week — Aug. 15-18 — from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., according to a heat advisory emergency flier the Union County Warming Station released.

“Anyone can kick it and get out of the heat,” Doug Whipple, the organization’s housing service coordinator and volunteer coordinator, said.

The cooling center is located at 501 Third Street, La Grande, and includes resources such as a laundry room and a shower.

Goatley said that (Aug. 14), the temperature stayed in the 90s past 8 p.m., and expects it not to dip below 90 degrees before 8:30 p.m. tonight.

He said the heat wave is related to a “strong area of pressure that’s been sitting over the region for several days,” and forecasts temperatures to decrease by about 10 degrees on Aug. 18, five-to-six more degrees on Aug. 19, and then an additional three-to-five degrees on Aug. 20.

“(It’s) a pretty steady drop 15 to 20 degrees in total through the whole weekend,” Goatley said.