Checking Out Temps Across The Chicago Area
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The stifling heat blanketing the Chicago area can really vary from place to place, so CBS 2 wanted to go across the city to check out the temperatures for ourselves.
CBS 2's Derrick Blakley took a thermometer all around the city on Wednesday to check out some of the hottest spots in town.
At about 11 a.m. at Brigane Paving Co., a handheld thermometer showed the temperature was already close to 100 degrees.
But as steaming asphalt filled the trucks, it was even hotter for drivers. They could feel the rising heat at their backs, as the asphalt being loaded into their trucks was much hotter than the weather.
"I believe it's over 300 (degrees) ... way over 300," trucker Miguel Martinez said.
At 1:10 p.m., about 10 minutes before first pitch at Wrigley Field, the thermometer read 104 degrees at Beyond the Ivy rooftop at 1010 W. Waveland Av.
Maybe that's why the rooftop seats were practically empty, with most fans there hiding inside at the bar, where it was a heck of a lot cooler.
Cubs fan Jessica Gibson said, "I'm gonna go hike it on downstairs to the air conditioning or else find some paper towels in the restroom, cold paper towels."
Fellow Cubs fan Matt Backe said he was going to stick at the bar too, rather than braving the heat on the rooftop.
"I'm gonna wimp it out...w-i-m-p, wimp. I'm gonna wimp it out," Backe said.
At 1:45 p.m., getting back into the car proved to be hazardous, as a thermometer left inside on the front dash registered at well over 120 degrees.
At 2:15 p.m. in the pedway under Macy's on State Street, the thermometer read 90 degrees, and the humidity inside the pedway was stifling.
CTA passenger Kaitlyn McDermott, said that the difference between the air-conditioned section of the pedway and the areas that are open to the outdoors was "very, very breath-taking. It takes your breath away. It's very hot, sweaty, gross."
Of course, thermometers just tell you the temperature. They don't factor in humidity, which the heat index does. That's why it's supposed to give a better indication just of how uncomfortable things are.
