By Cliff Bellamy

cbellamy@heraldsun.com; 419-6744

DURHAM -- Today is the summer solstice, the official beginning of the season, but for Bull City residents the date is superfluous, because the signs (or for some folks, the symptoms) of summer are already with us.

Visitors to several outdoor events this weekend took precautions to protect themselves from the heat. At Saturday's Juneteenth celebration, some visitors carried umbrellas to protect them from the sun beating down on CCB Plaza. Other visitors planted themselves in what shade downtown buildings provided. At Saturday's Summer Reading Club Kickoff celebration at the Durham County Library, members of TROSA did their part by operating the dunking booth. As the temperatures climbed, some would argue that those being dunked had the best job of all.

The heat of the past weekend is not in your head. Saturday's official high was 93 degrees, 7 degrees above the normal high of 86, according to the National Weather Service in Raleigh.

The heat and well-above-average June temperatures are expected to continue this week, said Phil Badgett, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Raleigh. For the month of June so far, Badgett said, highs have averaged 90 degrees and lows have averaged 70. The more typical June averages are 85 for a high and 65 for a low. Highs today and Tuesday are forecast in the mid-90s, and in the upper 90s for Wednesday and Thursday.

The higher than normal temperatures are caused by a large high pressure system in the Southern United States, Badgett said.

"It's very unusual to have this high pressure like we're having now," he said. Such high pressure systems and temperatures are more typical of July and August.

As another sign of the hot temperatures, on Sunday, Durham's Council for Senior Citizens announced that its annual fan giveaway is under way. For more than 20 years, the council has presented the fans to senior citizens, who can be particularly sensitive to heat. Free box fans are available for pickup at the Durham Center for Senior Life Building, 406 Rigsbee Ave. The council also provides some limited delivery to senior citizens who are homebound.

To be eligible for a free fan, citizens must be 60 years of age or older, residents of Durham County, and should bring a valid photo identification when they pick up the fan. (For more details, call the Council for Senior Citizens at 688-8247.)

As the sun beat down Sunday, some residents ventured to a city park to cool off. At Forest Hills Park swimming pool, Jesse Hardin and his son Jaxon, 4, were lathering up with sunscreen and preparing to cool off in the pool. At first, Hardin said he came to the park to let Jaxon play in the splash park, but when he heard the pool was open, decided to take a swim.

"We were working in the yard all day, and this was a way to cool off," Hardin said.

Over at the splash park, Kevin Gooch, 9, was keeping himself cool playing in the streams of water. Gooch said he has been coming to the park since he was younger, and likes the recent addition of the splash park.

He was with family members, who were having a cookout in honor of Father's Day. "We're going to go over to the pool a little later," said his mom, Tracey Gooch. She praised the park for its variety of facilities for different ages, and, on this hot Sunday before the official start of summer, for the shade and shelter over the picnic tables.