Community Corner
Heat and Humidity Settle Over Eagan
A sultry summer Sunday, and places to cool off in Eagan.
With temps in the nineties and dew points in the eighties, folks in Eagan took refuge from the tropical weather.
A lack of options brought a group of families from West Saint Paul to the swimming beach at Eagan's Lebanon Hills Park on Sunday. State park closures due to the shutdown, and the cancellation of organized youth sports activities due to the dewpoint among them.
Taking the excessive heat advisories seriously, a free Sunday that may have been spent riding bikes turned into a trip to the lake armed with lots of popsicles.
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Tina Byrne and a group of her friends arrived at the beach at 11 a.m. hoping to get there early enough to nab an umbrella the park district lends out. They all were spoken for. They spent the day playng games in the water, and drinking lots of water when they were on land.
"The water is really cold, but really feels good when you are in it," Byrne said.
Find out what's happening in Eaganwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
For Richard and Cheryl Johnson, a trip to the Mall of America with their visiting grandchildren became the air-conditioned place to hang out, followed by a stop at Eagan's Ring Mountain Creamery.
Cheryl Johnson said it looked like lots of people were cooling off at MOA, judging from the crowds. Today they'll take the kids to the Minnesota Zoo, but aren't sure how long they will last.
At Cascade Bay, a park employee said there definitely has been an uptick in attendance, which typically happens when the weather turns hot.
Hot cars and kids
On Friday, the St Paul Fire Department issued an advisory and reminder of the risks of leaving children in a car in hot weather.
Since 1998, more than 500 children have died of heat stroke when left in vehicles, either because they were forgotten, were left while a parent or guardian ran an errand or the child climbed into an unlocked car on their own.
Sunlight can raise the internal temperature in a car in a matter of minutes and childrens' bodies are especially susceptible to those temperature changes, starting to shut down at 104 degrees. Death can occur at 107 degrees.
