The airmass is finally drying out and stabilizing as the low pressure center which kept things hopping that last week or so finally fills and moves out of the region. There is still enough residual moisture around to allow a few cumulus clouds to pop up in the afternoon, and an isolated thundershower isn’t out of the realm of possibility, but any that do occur shouldn’t be of the severe variety. By Sunday showers should pretty well be out of the forecast, although a few clouds could still pop up in the afternoon hours. Temperatures will slowly rebound back into the low 80s Saturday and gradually climb into the low 90s by the middle of next week.

I hope by now you know that it is imperative that you not leave your child unattended in a car… even for a minute. (The same goes for pets. Dogs cool themselves by panting, and 130 degree air is quickly fatal to them.) But how could anyone possibly leave an infant in a car, either intentionally or unintentionally?

Jan Null, former Lead Forecaster for the National Weather Service (whose paper on the subject inspired me to write on the subject), suggests that air bags may play a role. Since the dangers of front seat airbags to children in car seats became evident, parents have been (rightly so) moving their children to the back seats. The only negative to this has been an “out of sight, out of mind” syndrome that has resulted in 51% of the hot-car deaths being due to children being “forgotten” by their caregiver. Melissa Krall of REMSA suggests doing everything you can to train yourself to always look in the back, including placing a briefcase or keys in the back just so you have to.

Or do something a little strange every time you have a child in the back, like keeping a stuffed animal in the back seat when your little one isn’t there, and then strapping the stuffed animal in the front seat when you have your child in the back. It may sound silly, but please do whatever it takes to avoid adding to a very avoidable tragedy.