Friday is National Heat Awareness day.

Beating the heat.

In Western Nebraska, we've all experienced the scorching temperatures in one way or another.

“We've been dry recently. Usually that would lead to a warmer summer but not as humid. When we don't have the humidity there, the threat for the heat-related effects isn't as high but we'll have to see how we progress through the rest of the spring here but in any summer we'll definitely have some days that are hot and humid,” says Cory Martin, National Weather Service.

Summer puts folks at risk for heat-related illnesses like sunburn, cramps, exhaustion and heat stroke.

Sweltering temperatures are linked to hundreds of death across the United States each year.

So it's important to be prepared.

“Take your safety precautions. Wear loose clothing, drink plenty of water, limit your activity outside. Make sure you get adequate ac during the day,” says Martin.

Keep children and pets out of enclosed vehicles.

And avoid peak heat hours.

“Definitely during the afternoon and early evening hours when we have peak heating of the day. If you do have activities that need to be done and it's going to be a high heat, high humidity kind of day, you definitely want to plan on either doing it in the morning hours or late in the evening,” says Martin.

High heat can be so dangerous; it's treated like a severe storm.

“We do put those products on our website just like winter storm watch or severe thunderstorm warning. It will come up as excessive heat watch, excessive heat warning. That kind of information gets relayed out to our media partners and we ask they broadcast that information as well,” says Martin.

For more information on how to beat the heat: http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/heat/