Hottest Day in Des Moines in Six Years - ABC5 News Des Moines, IA

Hottest Day in Des Moines in Six Years

By Katie Eastman

keastman@myabc5.com

@KatieEastman

Temperatures hit triple digits on Wednesday afternoon. And not everyone got to stay inside with air conditioning.

Construction workers were busy fixing the sidewalks and roads downtown, but some people chose to be outside.

"While I'm doing races and stuff it doesn't matter what the temperature is that day," said John Tiedt.

He was on his a third mile just before the temperature hit 100. This is the first time in six years Des Moines has been 100 degrees.

Kyle Michelsen has it a little better than most. He carries around a hose while he works. 

"I usually try to spray him in the truck," he laughed.

Michelsen waters all of the city's plants. But since he can't drink the hose water, he still has to be careful so he doesn't end up at the hospital. 

While the first day of this sweltering heat didn't bring in extra patients to local hospitals, the doctors expect to see an increase this week.

There's no cutting edge new advice from doctors, just keep drinking water, and if you're sweating a lot , drink something to replace the sodium you lose.

As of late Wednesday afternoon, the only local hospital to see people with heat related injuries like dehydration or heat stroke was Mercy. They had four patients.