Just exactly how hot is it?

Ever wonder exactly how hot it is inside your vehicle as you leave work on days when the temperature has climbed into triple-digits?

Depending on the time of day, it’s usually in the 130-degree range inside the car.

“Ouch, now that’s hot,” Tammy Gargis said Tuesday afternoon as she prepared to leave Kmart after an hour-long shopping stop. “I knew it was bad, but wow. No wonder it feels like the back of my leg has been scorched when I get behind the wheel.”

Anyone who has stepped outside the past week knows it’s extremely hot. The past few days, in fact, mark the first time the temperature has reached or exceeded 100 degrees on eight consecutive August days in the Shoals.

And more days over 100 degrees are still ahead of us.

While some opt to stay inside where an air conditioner is available to beat the heat, staying inside is not an option for others.

Roofers, pavers, construction workers and others who work outdoors have to brave the heat to get their jobs done.

Leighton roofer Tony Jackson is among those who have worked in the sun through the heat wave.

He said the heat becomes unbearable at times, forcing he and his employees at Jackson Roofing to alter work schedules.

“You can’t work too long when it’s this hot,” Jackson said. “We’re only able to work to about 11:30 or 12 before we have to stop. When its around 100 degrees on the ground, it’s about 130 degrees on a roof.”

Jackson and his employees begin their work day at 5 a.m. to beat the heat.

Tuesday’s high temperature of 103 degrees was the hottest Aug. 14 on record in the Shoals. The previous record of 101 degrees for the date was set in 1954.

Monday’s high of 104 was also a record for the date in the Shoals. The high today is expected to be 103 degrees, which would tie the Aug. 15 record, which was set in 1954.

“It’s been a long time since we’ve had heat like this,” Jackson said. “As a roofer, you get used to being out in the heat. But’s it’s hard to get used to weather this hot.”

Patrick Gatlin, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Huntsville, said dark surfaces such as roofs, asphalt streets and parking lots absorb heat, making them much hotter than the actual temperature.

“It’s like someone wearing a white shirt and someone else wearing a black shirt on a hot summer day,” he said. “The person in the dark shirt is going to feel hotter.”

In hot weather, asphalt and concrete become heat traps because they are dense and hold the heat, he said. On a hot day, asphalt can be more than 30 degrees hotter than the air temperature.

Construction crews spreading asphalt at local construction projects are also sweating the heat wave.

Tommy Pigg, area manager for APAC Southeast paving contractors in Muscle Shoals, said the excessively high temperatures are compounding the heat normally found a paving machine.

“It’s very hot. It’s hard on our people.”

Parked vehicles is another area where temperatures can soar well beyond the air temperature. Gatlin said children and pets should never be left inside a parked car on a hot day.

Gatlin said anyone who has to spend time outdoors must be careful to avoid being overcome by the heat.

He said taking breaks in the shade and drinking plenty of water or other fluids are a must when temperatures are dangerously high.

Don Gray, who sells watermelons from the back of his pickup parked beside Alabama 20 at the Waterloo Road intersection, said having a shade helps him survive when the temperature top 100 degrees.

“This heat is something else,” he said. “If I didn’t have plenty of cold water to drink and this little canopy, I couldn’t stay out here.”

The temperature beneath the canopy created by a large umbrella and tarpaulin is typically about 10 degrees cooler than that in the full sun, Gray said.

Area residents are apparently heeding warnings about the heat. Eliza Coffee Memorial Hospital in Florence and Helen Keller Hospital in Sheffield report having few patients seek treatment for heat-related illnesses.

Dr. J.D. Snipes, an emergency department physician at Keller Hospital, said most of the patients he has treated for heat-related illnesses were teenagers and people in their 20s who were exercising or working outdoors.

“Younger people sometimes think they can handle the heat, but it can sneak up on you really fast when it’s this hot.”

Meteorologists said the heat wave is likely to last for at least another week.

A cold front will move through the Tennessee Valley Friday, bringing with slighter cooler temperatures and a chance for rain but little relief.

“The cold front could cause temperatures to drop into the upper 90s for highs this weekend,” Gatlin said. “It won’t be as hot, but temperatures are still going to be well above normal.”

He said normal highs for this time of year are around 90 degrees.

Dennis Sherer can be reached at 740-5746 or dennis.sherer@timesdaily.com.