It doesn't need to be extremely hot outside for it to get very hot inside your car

When the mercury climbs we tend to put extra emphasis on making sure to never leave pets or children in the car.  But did you know it doesn't have to be an extremely hot day for the temperature inside the car to rise to dangerous levels?  There have been reports of children who have died when left in vehicles when the outside temperature was in the 70's.  That's because the inside of your car acts like a greenhouse - trapping the sun's energy inside.

Let's take an outside temperature of 80 degrees, for example.  In just 20 minutes the inside of you car can reach temperatures nearing 110 degrees!  Bump the outside temperature up to 90 degrees and within the same amount of time the inside temperature is now at 120 degrees!  For roughly every 5 minutes of time,  the inside temperature warms 5 to 10 degrees!  When the temperature does climb it's best to just leave your pets at home.  And if you're worried you will forget something important in the backseat, leave something you know you can't leave the car without - like your left shoe, cell phone or purse.

And not only does the inside of your car get to dangerous levels of heat very quickly, but the temperature of the concrete and blacktop do as well.  This means the paws of your four-legged friends could burn if walking outside on those hot surfaces.  So try to limit outdoor activity for your four-legged friends on these hot days.