For better or worse, summer heat here we come.
Metro Atlanta temperature highs will climb into the low 90s Friday and by Sunday, reach 94 degrees — just short of a record 99 degrees set June, 12 2014, according to National Weather Service data for the Atlanta area.
With that kind of heat ahead, experts warn parents to be especially mindful of children.
Kids are more vulnerable to heatstroke than adults.
In 10 minutes, a car’s temperature can rise more than 20 degrees, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Even at an outside temperature of 60 degrees, the temperature inside a car can reach 110 degrees, which is 3 degrees more than the 107 degree body temperature at which a child would die.
If that happens, caretakers could face jail time.
That is the case for grandmother Barbara Michelle Pemberton who was charged in January with second-degree murder and child cruelty, said Greg Ramey, special agent in charge of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation office in northwest Georgia.
A 13-month-old baby died of heatstroke on a chilly January day when Pemberton left him in her car with the heater running for five hours while she visited with friends, authorities said.
In a Cobb County case, Justin Ross Harris faces murder charges in connection with the June 2014 incident in which his son Cooper, who was 22 months old, died after being left in a hot car for several hours.
The Traffic Safety Administration warns parents to check backseats before locking car doors and check to make sure children arrive safely when there is a change in the daily routine.
Also keep a stuffed animal or other visual reminder in the child’s car seat when it’s empty, and move the item to the front seat when the child is in the back seat, the administration recommended.
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