Record high temperatures Wed.

UNDATED - Record high temperatures were posted in several places in Georgia Wednesday, including Gainesville.

The temperature at Lee Gilmer Memorial Airport in Gainesville topped out at 97 Wednesday afternoon, beating by two degrees the 95 that had stood since 1951.

Rome, Columbus and Albany also posted new records for the date as Georgia's unseasonably hot weather continues. It was 98 in Rome where the old record of 95 was set in 2002. The high in both Columbus and Albany was 102. The old record in Columbus was 98 which was set in 1998. The 102 in Albany topped a record of 98 that was recorded in 2008. Athens came within one degree of the record of 100 that was set in 1918.

Forecasters say the above-normal temperatures, 10-12 degrees higher than normal for this time of the year, should continue through at least the weekend.

HEAT DANGERS

Meanwhile, health officials across the state are warning of the dangers of the heat.

They say that as the temperature rises, so does the danger of heat exhaustion or heat stroke - especially for the elderly.

Brian Fern with the American Red Cross of Central Georgia says one thing you can do is make sure the elderly at least have a fan to help keep cool.

"I think all too often we take for granted that everyone has air conditioning," Fern told Georgia News Network, "and that just isn't the case sometimes, especially with those who are elderly."

Even so, he said, the elderly can still get overheated using a fan if it gets extremely hot and they they often don't recognize they're suffering heat stress until it's too late.

"Having fans that are circulating the air - they help. But we need to remember it's not cool air."

About 400 people die each year in the U.S. from the heat and most of them are elderly or very young.

Fern also says if you are outside for prolonged periods of time be sure to take frequent rest breaks and drink plenty of water and wear a hat, and he cautions "if you stop sweating when you're hot, that's a big problem. That's a serious situation. That means you don't have enough water in your body to produce that sweat."