The first official day of summer will happen this Saturday and with that people are reminded to stay heat aware. Washington County Emergency Management Coordinator Marissa Reisen says people should know the symptoms of heat-related illness, “First and foremost, drink lots of water. Be aware of what the signs of heat exhaustion and heat stroke are. So, if you start getting dizzy, sweating more than you should be, or if you start actually getting sick and your body temperature starts going up, you need to go ahead and get inside where it’s air conditioned and lay down. And you don’t want to cool yourself off too rapidly. So, don’t just douse yourself in cold water. Just like when you’re out in the cold and you want to warm back up, you do it gradually.”

The Centers for Disease Control lists symptoms of heat exhaustion as heavy sweating, cold clammy skin, fast or weak pulse, nausea, headache, fainting, weakness, or dizziness. Symptoms of heat stroke are a body temperature of 103 degrees or more, hot dry skin, fast strong pulse, confusion, nausea, headache, dizziness, and passing out.

Temperatures are expected to warm up this week highs in the 80s each day. Listen to KCII for weather updates.