Jun. 22--PANAMA CITY, Fla. -- PANAMA CITY BEACH -- Green Gulf of Mexico waters were jammed Sunday afternoon as young and old fought to stay cool during an oppressive June heat.

The National Weather Service said temperatures reached 98 degrees and the heat index peaked at 109 degrees about 3 p.m. Heat index is a combination of air temperature and humidity. Most of the Panhandle remained on heat advisory or heat warning Sunday.

"What we are basically under is a deep layer, high-pressure ridge that's not moving," National Weather Service meteorologist Alex Gibbs said. "We have seen this before, but we are certainly experiencing higher temperatures than usual."

With the combination of high temperatures and green flags flying indicating tranquil weather, Bay County Sheriff 's Office and Panama City Police Department beach patrols had an atypical beat Sunday, keeping a sharp an eye for pedestrians suffering from heat exhaustion in addition to distressed swimmers.

"The main changes you see on a day like (Sunday) is instead of keeping people out of the water (such as on a red flag day), patrols are doing more medical evaluations," said Bay County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Ruth Corley. "The sun reflecting off that sand is doubly hard on people."

Wearing polo shirts and shorts, patrol officers drove pickups carrying cold drinks for beach goers that might be suffering from too much heat, sun or a third notorious culprit: alcohol.

"Alcohol plays a role in a lot of dehydration cases we see," said Maj. David Humphreys of the Panama City Beach Police Department.

Humphreys said there have been no serious reports of dehydration in Panama City Beach during the recent heat wave, but minor instances of alcohol related "over heatings" are not uncommon.

"My advice is, if you are going to consume (alcohol) on the beach, consume plenty of water along with it," Humphreys said.

National Weather Service officials said the weather is expected to remain hot throughout the week, but temperatures are expected to taper as the week progresses, hitting 97 degrees Tuesday, 94 Wednesday, 91 Thursday and 89 Friday.

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