Yahoo Finance Fresh baked cookies in a car? Park rangers in Arizona just did it in extreme heat
The heat in the West is so extreme that you can bake cookies inside your car.
Rangers at Saguaro National Park in Arizona cooked up their own treats Monday as temperatures reached 104 degrees.
A dark dashboard in a car with closed windows can become scorching hot, park rangers said. Hot enough to bake a batch of cookies.
“You may have thought it was a joke, but you really can bake cookies in your car here in the Southwest,” park officials said. “When temperatures are around 100°F, it doesn’t take too long for the dashboard to get around 180+°F.”
Park officials showed just how hot the car is when they covered a pan with foil and placed cookie dough on top. They then put the tray on the dashboard and waited.
After two and a half hours, the cookies were ready to be eaten.
“Cookies are fun and all, but this heat is no joke,” Saguaro officials said. “Do not leave any pets or children (or any living creature) in the car alone. It doesn’t take very long for heat stroke, brain damage, or worse to happen.”
When it’s hot outside, a closed vehicle can heat up 19 degrees in 10 minutes, according to SafeKids Worldwide.
People have often used food to demonstrate just how hot it is outside. It’s possible to cook an egg on a sidewalk or the hood of a car during an extremely hot day, according to the Library of Congress.
“Something closer to the conditions of a frying pan would be the hood of a car,” the Library of Congress said. “Metal conducts heat better and gets hotter, so people actually have been able to cook an egg on a car hood’s surface.”
In the West, it may be that hot. The region has been experiencing record-setting high temperatures in a major heatwave. Temperatures have soared above 120 degrees in some places.
People are urged to take precautions during the heat, especially when outdoors for a prolonged period. Over the weekend, a Grand Canyon backpacker died after falling ill from the extreme heat. In California, a hiker died and another is in critical condition after being in the desert heat in Borrego Springs, according to City News Service.
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