Samantha Cofone, of Dayton, watches her daughter Piper, 7, dunk her head while floating in the Saco River at Rotary Park in Biddeford Wednesday. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer

Skaters twirled in circles in the William B. Troubh Ice Arena in Portland Wednesday afternoon as several homeless people sat nearby, using the space as a cooling center to escape the oppressive heat outside.

Scott, 67, sat with his legs crossed on a folding metal chair on the top row of the bleachers overlooking the rink and took a sip from his mostly frozen plastic water bottle.

Scott, who would not provide his last name, walked about 30 minutes to reach the arena, which the city invited residents to use as a cooling center. Otherwise, he said, he would “be out underneath a tree.” Even with access to the ice rink, he said that the heat “has me a little disoriented.”

The temperature rose to a high of 90 in Portland on Wednesday, and humidity made it feel like 105 degrees in the city, according to the National Weather Service in Gray. Much of the state got even hotter.

The extreme heat that reached Maine Wednesday is part of a swath of hot air that settled over the eastern half of the country this week. The oppressive weather is the result of what’s known as a heat dome, when high pressure in the upper atmosphere traps and compresses the air below, causing temperatures to rise.

Chicago reached 97 degrees Monday, breaking a record set in 1957. Cincinnati hit 94 Tuesday and was expected to get hotter Thursday and Friday. And Albany, New York, was expected to top 95 degrees through Thursday.

The weather service issued a heat advisory for southern Maine on Wednesday and urged people to stay out of the sun, drink fluids, and check on relatives and neighbors.

People walk through the wading pool at Deering Oaks Park in Portland on Wednesday. Mainers looked for ways to deal with a heat wave on Wednesday which brought temperatures in the high 80s with high humidity. Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer

But staying safe in the sun is easier said than done for some, like Toni King, who took shelter under a tree on Lancaster Street on Wednesday. King has been homeless and suffers from congestive heart failure, and her symptoms have just been exacerbated by the heat.

“I get sick a lot,” King said, adding that she struggles to walk or hold things. Often, she has seizures and falls “because it is so hot.”

The heat prompted many communities to open cooling centers to give residents some reprieve. The center at the ice arena was open Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and will be open Thursday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Portland Public Library will serve as a cooling center Thursday, but was closed Wednesday due to the Juneteenth holiday.

Mike and Christina, who did not provide their last names, hunker down in an alcove in the William B. Troubh Ice Arena, which was being used as a cooling center Wednesday. Dana Richie/Staff Writer

And while some Portland residents sheltered in air-conditioned buildings, others took to splash pads and community pools to cool off. Kids were relieved to jump in the water at the Portland Kiwanis Pool Wednesday afternoon after waiting in line in the heat.

“We’ve been waiting for it to open, but here we are,” Mike DeLucia, of Portland, said as he helped his 4-year-old daughter, Fiona, splash around in the cool water.

Some parts of Maine, including Lewiston, Augusta and Bangor were under an excessive heat warning, one of the most severe heat-related warnings the weather service issues. Waterville and Augusta hit the high 90s but felt more like 108 and 105, respectively.

Mainers won’t get much of a break from the hot weather overnight, either, with temperatures expected to dip only to the 60s and 70s.

In addition to more extreme heat Thursday with temperatures expected to again reach into the 90s statewide, scattered showers and thunderstorms are likely Thursday afternoon, according to the weather service. Some of these could contain locally strong to damaging winds and briefly heavy rainfall.

Fiona DeLucia-Wood, 4, of Portland, swims into her father’s arms while cooling off in the Kiwanis Pool in Portland, which was a popular place to be Wednesday as the heat wave hit Maine. Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer

While the mid-90-degree temperatures predicted for Wednesday and Thursday could break single-day records, they are unlikely to surpass the highest temperature on record in Portland in June, which was 98 degrees on June 28, 1991. The highest recorded temperatures in Portland for June 19 and 20 were 94 degrees in 1995 and 93 degrees in 2020, respectively.

Some chose to embrace Wednesday’s heat, and the hundred-degree heat indexes didn’t keep vendors – and a handful of customers – from the Portland Farmer’s Market in Deering Oaks park.

Laurel Jordan, a teacher visiting from Florida, stopped at the market to buy lettuce and play her ukulele in the shade of a big oak tree.

“It does seem a little slow,” Jordan said.

Keith Harmon of Fairwinds Farm puts out produce at the Farmers’ Market in Deering Oaks Park in Portland on Wednesday. Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer

Keith Harmon of Fairwinds Farm in Topsham and Bowdoinham also noticed the lull in business as temperatures climbed in the afternoon.

“We have our earlier rushes, people beat the heat, or they just won’t come out at all,” Harmon said. “They’ll look at the forecast and be like, ‘Eh.’ ”

Beatrice Roseland, a vendor from Andy Valley Farm in Lisbon, was selling leafy greens and root vegetables.

“I think it’s kind of nice to see folks coming out despite it all, and it’s been nice, too, because all the vendors are taking care of each other,” Roseland said, comparing the camaraderie inspired by the heat wave to surviving a winter storm.

That care for one another was evidenced by the fan behind Roseland’s seat, borrowed from a fellow vendor. And after closing up shop, art vendor Stephanie Heinz handed out plastic water bottles to 10 homeless people in the park, extending a helping hand to those with nowhere else to go.

“There’s not much I can do, but I can at least make sure people have water,” Heinz said.

Orlando, who did not provide his last name, and his dog Snoopers wait outside the Spurwink Adult Behavior Center. Orlando is homeless and said he did his best to stay cool outside. Dana Richie/Staff Writer

Orlando, who did not provide his last name, and his 2-year-old dog, Snoopers, leaned against a railing in the shade of the entryway to Spurwink Adult Behavioral Health on Elm Street.

At his feet, there was a small dog bowl with a paw print design in the middle full of water. Snoopers’ tongue was hanging out in the heat.

Orlando is homeless and said that he’s been rejected from shelters because of Snoopers, who helps with his PTSD.

He said he and Snoopers had been moving around and trying to stay cool. He heard about the cooling centers, but decided not to go because he doesn’t “like being surrounded by a lot of people.”