Melting My Mind...

The birds visiting my yard are walking around with their beaks open, panting.

It isn't even noon yet.

Yesterday's temperatures felt extremely oppressive to me. I think the humidity was a little on the high side too.

The weatherman has pretty much guaranteed that we will be in the 100's for the next seven days.

Again.


One day last week I got in my car after work to discover a *wet spot* on the passenger seat. I usually keep at least one water of bottle in the car at all times.

When I saw "the wet spot" I thought to myself, "Dang. I didn't screw the lid on tight enough."

But to my dismay, what I discovered was a hardened substance on the seat cover of my "newer vehicle".

Having a scientific type of mindset, I automatically began to try to figure out what had happened.



Upon inspection of my water bottle, I surmised that the glue that held the label onto the water bottle had liquified during the day from the build-up of heat from inside of my car.

Even though I had put up the windshield barrier to block the sun's rays, it had to have gotten extremely warm to have melted the glue on the water bottle.

How hot did it get inside of my car!?

I found a source that states that the air temperature inside of a car can reach 120 to 140 degrees in a matter of minutes.

And it doesn't have to be that warm outside for it to reach those temperatures either.

My source also states:

...according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 'a locked car sitting in the summer sun quickly turns into an oven,' and 'temperatures can climb from 78 degrees to 100 degrees in just three minutes, to 125 degrees in 6-8 minutes.'

So I wonder what the peak temperature is on the inside of a car, sitting in the Oklahoma sun for several hours, with an outside air temperature of 103 degrees Fahrenheit?

If it can reach 125 degrees Fahrenheit in just a few minutes, then nobody should be leaving any child or pet inside of a parked car for any length of time, period.

We see a lot of pets at work who have succumbed to heat stroke in their backyards; much less after having been left in a vehicle.

Coming in with core body temperatures well over 108 degrees, many of them do not survive due to brain damage and multiple organ failure.

You hear a lot of news reports about children dying in hot cars. Some of them have died while it was only 80 degrees outside.

How distressing.




Thank goodness I had a seatcover protecting the seat of my car.

I don't really have the extra funds right now to go and buy another seat cover to replace this one. School is starting soon for the kids and me, so I have plenty of other things to spend my money on right about now.

I might try and see if I can remove the glue from the cover.

I was wondering if acetone/polish remover would do the trick.

Any suggestions?

later...



**Here are some helpful articles about the prevention and treatment of heat stroke and heat exhaustion.


Heat Exhaustion and Heatstroke: What You Should Know

Management of Heatstroke and Heat Exhaustion