After a dozen rainy weekends in a row – and many rescheduled outdoor plans and much small talk on the topic of weekend rain – two long-awaited sunny days brought people outside across the Portland area this Saturday and Sunday.

“We’ve been in the crypt,” said Diane Burham of Bridgton on Sunday as she visited Portland with family. “Now we can emerge.”

Thousands celebrated outside on Saturday at the Portland Pride, lining Congress Street for the parade in the beating sun. The festival that followed brought the lively crowd to Deering Oaks for music, vendors and gathering in the shade. On Sunday, the park was more mellow as families with young children recreated.

Cousins Vanessa White and Alicia Davis came from Parsonsfield and South Portland to the bright teal splash pad. Each bringing their two children to cool off in the water, they said they had to find activities that appealed to kids ranging from ages 1 to 11.

“We’ve had horrible weather so far,” said White. “We’re so glad to be out.”

White’s daughter Gia, 9, was scooting on her stomach in the shallow water while her younger cousin Quinn, 1, fiddled with water toys around her.

“I’m pretending to be a seal,” said Gia.

While the change in weather is notable, it is not a heat wave, which is defined as three days or more of excessive heat according to the National Weather Service. The Portland area will likely see two days of excessive temperatures on Monday and Tuesday, when it will feel like at least 95 degrees. On Tuesday, the temperatures may reach the threshold for extreme heat, as the lack of sea breeze could make it feel like 105 degrees. The weather service will likely send out a heat advisory, said forecaster Stephen Baron.

While the weather can flip from cool rain to beating sun any given day, Baron said that these recent hot days are more aligned with the prediction for the rest of the summer in Maine. The Climate Prediction Center, a part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Weather Service, anticipates above average temperatures for the Northeast this summer and fall, said Baron.

“So certainly, that doesn’t mean extreme heat events like this one, but could just mean warmer, hotter temperatures through the summer,” he said.

Changes in weather prompted changes in plans in the greater Portland area. Outside of the ice cream shop Willard Scoops in South Portland, Alexander Love sat out the back of his car trunk enjoying a scoop of the flavor “Monkey Biz.” His husky, Koda, stayed cool in the back seat with a cup of ice water.

“The first hot day like today, the dramatic change in the seasons, it made me crave some ice cream,” said Love.

Love said that having moved to the area from Florida where warm weather is more of a constant, he sees Mainers appreciate the summer sun with a distinct enthusiasm.

“Coming from somewhere that’s always hot, people really enjoy the summers here,” said Love. “People just light up.”

The crowd at Willard Beach in South Portland also turned out for a sunny Sunday. South Portland lifeguard Emily Keefe said this weekend was the busiest of the season so far, with about 100 more people on the beach than previously, bringing the total for Sunday afternoon to approximately 400 people.

Dale and Diane Grenier waded at Willard with their great-granddaughter, 4-year-old Paisley. The Greniers came to South Portland from Benton with their son and daughter-in-law, two granddaughters, and three great-grandchildren.

“Family is everything to us,” said Diane Grenier. “And we all love coming to the beach.”

“It’s our first trip to the ocean this year,” she said, as her husband and great-granddaughter engaged in a gentle splash battle.

Eli Lewis was one of the few beachgoers to dip in the still-frigid ocean alongside a friend at Willard Beach. He said he was glad to have a warm, sunny day after so many weekends filled with rain.

“It was the worst. It was like seasonal depression but in the summer,” said Lewis of Portland. “It’s great to have this now.”

As Keefe enters her fourth summer guarding the beach, she said that in hotter weather, staff sometimes help beachgoers with heat-related troubles such as lightheadedness.

As Portland is predicted to get even higher temperatures in the next few days, the National Weather Service advised that the heat could potentially be dangerous, causing heat-related illnesses if proper precautions are not taken.

“We just want to make sure that folks are prepared. If they’re going to be outdoors, to take breaks, drink plenty of water. Check on your neighbors. If they have AC, now is the time to put the AC unit in,” said Baron about the weather Monday and Tuesday.

“Just plan for some very hot couple of days,” he said.