We’re breathing a sigh of relief after a week-long heatwave that consumed the Northeast has finally moved out! But rather than complain, we had some fun experimenting with our data loggers under the extreme circumstances.
To emphasize the importance of not leaving people or animals in the car on a hot day, we stuck an RFRHTemp2000A wireless humidity and temperature data logger inside a parked car and outside on top of a tire. Over the span of 7 hours, we received our highest reading 3 hours into the experiment.
At 9:00 a.m., both loggers started with a read of 77 °F (25 °C) and by 1:00 p.m. temperatures skyrocketed. Outside it was 94 °F (34 °C), but inside the car is was a blistering 164 °F (73 °C). To put that into perspective, 165°F is the temperature the United States Department of Agriculture recommends for cooking poultry because it kills salmonella, campylobacter bacteria and avian influenza viruses.
A car is like an oven, at 104 °F (40 °C) a child can suffer a heatstroke. Once the core body temperature reaches 107 °F (41 °C) cells are damaged and internal organs begin to shut down, eventually leading to death. According to Kids and Cars, an average of 37 kids in the United States die each year from being left in hot cars.
103 °F (39 °C) is the body temperature at which a dog will show symptoms of a heatstroke. Even with the windows cracked, all it takes in 10 minutes for the temperature inside a car to rise.
| Outside Temperature (°F) | Vehicle Temperature (°F) | |
| 10 minutes | 30 minutes | |
| 70° | 89° | 104° |
| 75° | 94° | 109° |
| 80° | 99° | 114° |
| 85° | 104° | 119° |
| 90° | 109° | 124° |
| 95° | 114° | 129° |
Don’t forget – A car doesn’t need to be hot to be dangerous. Heat stroke can occur in the shade, with the windows down and outside temperatures as low as 57 °F (13 °C)! Beating the heat is tough but pets, kids and the elderly are especially vulnerable when it comes to keeping cool. So take it from us, don’t take chances with your loved ones. It could lead to deadly consequences.
