Staying safe in extreme heat

There is an extreme heat warning for most of central and southern Minnesota. To stay safe, keep informed about your local weather and stay cool. Drink before you feel thirsty. Take frequent breaks if you must be outside.

Visit your community cooling center or other places with air conditioning.

The Minnesota Department of Health has a website with more information and two fact sheets. One handout has tips on staying safe when it’s hot. The other explains heat exhaustion and heat stroke.

Heat exhaustion can develop from exposure to heat or when working or exercising in it.

Heat stroke is a medical emergency. It can develop quickly when working or exercising in heat (exertional heat stroke) or gradually over a few days of prolonged heat (classic heat stroke).

Call 911 if you think someone has heat stroke. They might be confused, lose consciousness, not sweat, have seizures, or not be able to balance among other symptoms.

For comparison, Minnesota’s worst heat wave was in July, 1936 according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

In the Twin Cities, the high temperature was 90 degrees F or higher for 14 straight days, including 8 days with high temperatures at or above 100 degrees F. …

The heat wave included five straight days with high temperatures at or above 105 in the Twin Cities, with an all-time record high of 108 F on the 14th, and seven straight days with low temperatures remaining at or above 80 degrees F, with a low of just 86 F on July 13th. These measures of excessive heat are unmatched in records going back to late 1872. …

St. Cloud recorded nine 100-degree days (with a high of 107 F),  Brainerd recorded six (including a high of 106 F), Cloquet recorded eight (high of 105 F), and the Grand Rapids Forestry Lab recorded six (high of 104 F). Even Duluth, famously "air-conditioned" by Lake Superior, recorded three 100-degree days, with a high temperature of 106 F on July 13th.