If you enjoy hot weather, today should be your kind of day. Or perhaps tomorrow or the remainder of the week. Average temperatures this month for Minot have been more than five degrees above the long-term stanza and that difference will likely increase in the coming days.

“Tuesday will be the hottest day this week,” said Jeff Schild, meteorologist, National Weather Service in Bismarck. “Temps will be around 100 or even above. There’s a persistent ridge to the west that continues to bring hot conditions to the area. It looks like the hottest part of the state will be the southwest with Bowman, Beach, Hettinger, even Medora, with temps of 105 or greater.”

North Dakota is not alone in the path of this latest heat wave. Montana issued an Excessive Heat Warning on Monday effective until midnight tonight in anticipation of “dangerously hot conditions with temperatures up to 105. The warning area included the cities of Glasgow, Fort Peck, Scobey, and Plentywood – right up to the North Dakota border.

South Dakota followed suit, issuing a Heat Advisory effective until 7 p.m. today for several counties bordering North Dakota. The NWS in Aberdeen said heat index values up to 102 degrees were expected.

For North Dakota the NWS issued a Heat Advisory for much of the western part of the state, effective until 8 p.m. today. Cities included Parshall, Wilton, New Town, Watford City, Underwood, Beulah, Garrison, Washburn, and Stanley.

The NWS advises that such extreme heat significantly increases the potential for heat related illnesses, “particularly for those working or participating in outdoor activities.” Precautionary advice includes “drink plenty of fluids, stay in an air-conditioned room, stay out of the sun, and check up on relatives and neighbors.”

While Minot is forecast to reach 100 or more degrees today, the hot weather will continue into Wednesday as well. However, with a forecast in the low 90’s for tomorrow it may seem noticeably cooler than what can be expected today. Thursday and Friday will be similar, says the NWS, with daytime high temps topping 90 degrees.

“We’ll call it a little bit cooler air moving in on Wednesday with high temps only in the 90’s,” said Schild. “And it will continue to cool down some as we close out the week and into the weekend, maybe mid-80’s to lower 90’s. Unfortunately, the chances of precipitation continue to be quite low.”

The “coolest” area of the state today, said Schild, will be in the Jamestown and Ellendale areas where the thermometer is expected to reach only into the low 90’s. There’s a catch though.

“The humidity will be higher so they will feel like 100. No matter where you go it will be a rough day Tuesday,” said Schild.

This July is well on its way to becoming one of the warmest months of July on record for Minot. In Bismarck, where the thermometer has topped 100 degrees several times, including 106 a few days ago, it also has been a remarkably hot July to date.

“Bismarck has had only two or three days when the high temperature was below average,” noted Schild.

Bismarck is expected to top 100 degrees today and be in the upper 90’s tomorrow.

The latest short-range outlooks issued by the Climate Prediction Center through Aug. 8, call for a high probability of above-normal temperatures and below-normal precipitation for all of North Dakota.