NORTHWEST ARKANSAS — Summertime heat that covered Northwest Arkansas earlier than normal this year looks to continue through July, according to weather experts.

After 23 days in June over 90 degrees - compared with the historical average of nine days - July doesn’ appear to offer any breaks said Bart Haake, a meteo rologist with the National Weather Service in Tulsa Okla.

“The pattern we’re in right now settled in a good three or four weeks earlier than usual,” Haake said “The high-pressure ridge over the Great Plains is what brings heat to the region, and once it’s es tablished, it usually stays pretty strong throughout July and into August.”

The temperature hit a record 102 degrees at 4 p.m. Sunday at Drake Field in Fayetteville. The record high for July 10 was 101 in 1980, according to the weather service. It was 101 at 5 p.m. at Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport The historical average high and low temperatures for this week are 89 and 69.

Evidence of the heat isn’t hard to find.

“It’s been nonstop busy since May. June has been downright crazy,” said Sharon Olson, service manager for Bud Anderson Heating and Cooling in Lowell. “We got about 30 percent more calls than usual in June, and it hasn’t quit. Our 16 service techs did 1,300 calls last month.”

Bryce Vaught and his crew of lifeguards at the Prairie Grove Aquatic Park have a lot more swimmers than usual to watch, because of the heat.

“We’ve seen a huge increase over last year,” Vaught said. “We averaged 350 to 400 people each day in June, and we’re already seeing more than 450 each day this month. If we see the normal July spike in attendance, there could be550 a day pretty quickly.”

Numbers are also up at senior centers, but that’s normal, said Lori Proud of the Springdale Senior Center.

“Senior citizens generally want to get out more often during the summer, so that’s a bump we expected,” Proud said. “So far, we haven’t heard of a lot of folks who come out to the center just becausethey need a cool place to be.”

Some folks have been overcome by the heat. The Northwest Medical Center emergency rooms in Springdale and Bentonville have each treated several heat-related cases in emergency rooms this week, said Pat Driscoll, a hospital spokeswoman.

“So far, we haven’t admitted anyone to the hospital,” she said. “Unless they have a very advanced case of heatstroke or dehydration,we can generally get them cooled down in the ER and send them home.”

Daytime temperatures are forecast to stay in the 90s throughout most of this week, except for some slight dips if mid-week showers pop up, Haake said.

“Rainstorms generally bring a slight cooling effect, but the storms and any cooling would be very localized, not spread throughout the area,” he said.

News, Pages 2 on 07/13/2011