Despite the overwhelming heat of the past few days, LincolnCounty residents seem to be staying fairly cool.

As temperatures reached and surpassed the 100-degree mark overthe weekend, medical officials expected to see an increase inheat-related illnesses, but very few have been reported.

In fact, only one case of heat exhaustion has been recorded atKing’s Daughters Medical Center Emergency Room over the last fewweeks, said Jennifer Jackson, director of marketing and aspokesperson for the center.

She believes the lack of heat-related illnesses can beattributed to Lincoln County residents taking heed of warnings.

“I think we haven’t had many because everyone’s staying insideand drinking plenty of fluids,” said Jackson.

Jackson added that because it has been so hot with no relief inthree weeks, residents seem to be staying inside more, which willcut down on the number of heat-related illnesses.

Heat exhaustion cases are typically reported more frequentlyduring times when temperatures are a little lower.

“We have more of a problem when it’s not so hot and people getout and overdo it,” she said.

Temperatures in Brookhaven reached 102 degrees Saturday and 103degrees Sunday, according to a spokesman at the Waste WaterTreatment Plant, which records temperatures and precipitation inthe area.

Forecasters are predicting some relief in the state during thelatter part of the week.

”After Monday we are going to stay more in the upper 90s,”Chad Entremont, a National Weather Service meteorologist intern,said Saturday. ”We are not expecting 100-degree temperatures afterthat but getting really close.”

Other areas across Mississippi also recorded temperatures over100 degrees on Saturday. They included Hattiesburg, wheretemperatures reached 106, and Meridian, where the temperature was105.

The temperature in Meridian tied the second highest temperatureever recorded in the city, Entremont said. The record high inMeridian is 107, which was reached July 14, 1980, Entremontsaid.

The last time the temperature in the Jackson area went over 100degrees was last Aug. 19, when the temperature was 104. Thetemperature reached 100 degrees last year on Aug. 7.

Isolated showers are expected in some parts of the state Tuesdayand Wednesday but they won’t be much of the break from theheat.

”It won’t be a wash out anywhere,” Entremont said.

(The Associated Press contributed some information to thisstory.)