An interference detection methods and receivers for receiving an RF signal including a desired RF signal and an intermittent interference signal, estimating thermal noise of the receiver by statistically analyzing a plurality of time intervals of data of the received RF signal, including at least one data interval not including the interferer, estimating an intermittent-interference-plus-noise level by statistically analyzing an extended time interval of the data, determining an interference metric based on a ratio of the estimates, and evaluating the interference metric against one or more thresholds to detect the presence or absence of degrading RF interference. The statistical analysis may include application of order statistic filtering.