High heat could be dangerous for fairgoers — and animals

CATHY WURZER: Many of us woke up to steam fogging up our windows from very high humidity, and the heat and humidity are just going to increase as the day wears on. Think of how a busy laundromat feels. That should give you an idea of what you'll experience today when you go outside. There is an excessive heat warning for the Twin Cities, Mankato, Rochester, parts of western Wisconsin until 8:00 PM tonight. Here with the latest is MPR meteorologist Sven Sundgaard. Hey, Sven.

SVEN SUNDGAARD: Hi, Cathy. I hope you're staying cool.

CATHY WURZER: I am. Thank you. Just reached noon here, 12:07. The heat index I see in Blaine is already 102. Where is it most miserable?

SVEN SUNDGAARD: That's probably one of the most miserable places right now and Wilmer that you mentioned with that 81 degree dew point. Tracy hit an 81 degree dew point yesterday, too. And most of those dew points are in the mid to upper 70s across the whole southern half of the state, which is about as humid as it gets around here.

We're currently sitting at 87 at MSP, but just minutes ago, we were up to 89 with a heat index. It was at 101. It's down to 97, but we're going to only be going up from here. The rest of the afternoon into the evening, basically 100 to 105 degrees is what it's going to continue to feel like.

If you want a little relief, you've got to go to Grand Marais, 72 though there. It's not dramatically cooler like we sometimes see. But yeah, hot and humid. We have that excessive heat warning, as you mentioned. And almost no wind, too. We've got a frontal boundary kind of sitting over the region, so there's not much of a breeze to help out. Not that it would matter anyway because it's so humid. But yeah, low 90s for highs. We're going to be on the cusp of hitting that seventh 90 of the season. And a reminder, normal to date is about 10. So we're behind. So savor the hot day because we haven't had that many.

CATHY WURZER: And think of January.

SVEN SUNDGAARD: Yeah.

CATHY WURZER: I'm wondering, we know about the heat index, right? That's how it feels. A combination of the temperature and the dew point. Are there other ways to measure heat and how it feels? Does that make sense if I ask that question?

SVEN SUNDGAARD: Absolutely. In last year we started to talk about this because we had a much hotter summer. This was used a lot. The Weather Service is really trying to move towards what's called the global wet bulb temperature. It's a much more accurate way to measure heat stress because, as you mentioned, heat index is just temperature and dew point. But the global wet bulb temperature takes into account the temperature, the humidity, the wind speed, sun angle, and cloud cover. Because if we were to have this exact same day in mid-June when the sun angles stronger, it would actually feel worse. It's bad enough, though.

We're looking at upper 80s for that wet bulb temperature this afternoon. And that means that's the most that your skin can cool to in these conditions. So that's why it's so easy to overheat because if you're doing any activity and you're only able to cool 10 degrees from where your body temperature is, that's not going to be enough. So it's a really accurate way of measuring heat stress. And this is the highest we've seen all summer. No surprise with the highest dew points we've seen all summer, too.

CATHY WURZER: Yeah, right. OK, so because we have this heat humidity and the atmosphere is probably cooking out there, how about the severe weather outlook?

SVEN SUNDGAARD: Yeah, there's going to be a lot of juice for the atmosphere to work with all this moisture and the heat. And we've got a set up low pressure sitting over southern Minnesota, a cool front that's draped across the northern part of the state back down into South Dakota and Nebraska. And that's going to be the focus for storms. We have an [INAUDIBLE] level three out of five for most of the Southern half of the state, including St. Cloud, the Twin Cities, Rochester, Mankato. And we are going to see storms develop probably late afternoon, early evening.

Now, we do have a cap, that's warm air aloft, that prevents storms from bubbling up. But we do think that cool front will be enough to force air upward to spawn those storms once we reach that peak heating here late afternoon and evening. And then those storms will develop and move east.

Those initial storms, southwestern Minnesota, eastern South Dakota, could have a tornadic threat. But the main thing we're going to be looking at this evening and overnight is damaging wind gusts. We could see bow echoes develop with these storms. And we might have multiple rounds of storms this evening into the overnight.

So that's what we're looking at, not just one round of storms, but maybe two or three rounds of possible severe storms, large hail part of that, too. And a widespread one to two inches of rain across the southern half of the state with some locally heavier amounts. We'll probably see some three or four inch rainfall amounts I bet.

CATHY WURZER: Hmm. Those nocturnal storms can be kind of tough. So people should have a way to get warnings.

SVEN SUNDGAARD: Absolutely.

CATHY WURZER: Curious as to when this front decides to exit.

SVEN SUNDGAARD: Yeah, it's going to take a couple of cool fronts to cool us off this week. So it will clear us late tonight, early tomorrow. And you will notice a drop in temperature and dew points tomorrow and Wednesday, but not dramatically so. It's still going to be pretty warm. Still low 80s, still above normal, and still sticky dew points in the 60s, but not nearly the oppressive conditions that we have today. And it should be dry mostly tomorrow afternoon and Wednesday.

CATHY WURZER: OK. Sven, thank you so much.

SVEN SUNDGAARD: You're welcome, Cathy.

CATHY WURZER: That's MPR meteorologist Sven Sundgaard. Say, if you're at the state fair today and listening, just so you know, there are several severe weather shelters out at the fair. Just take note of that. One is at the 4-H building, there's another at the Hort Ag building. And then, of course, the coliseum is a good place to go-- also the grandstand.

Now, folks going to the fair are being warned to stay hydrated. Take it easy. But what about the thousands of animals at the fair? This is their home for the next week. No matter the weather, an extreme heat can be very uncomfortable, even deadly, for some animals who are at the fair for competitions or demonstrations.

There's a team of veterinarians who are at the fair full time to make sure all of the animals have a healthy stay. One of them is with us, veterinarian Scott Lang from Waseca Veterinary Clinic. He's on the line. I know he's probably pretty busy. Dr. Lang's specialty is equine medicine. Thank you for taking the time, doctor.

SCOTT LANG: Hi, Cathy. Thank you for having me on.

CATHY WURZER: It's a pleasure. Well, the fair goes on in spite of the heat. Are there any of the judging, any of the classes being postponed because of the heat that you know of?

SCOTT LANG: Not at this time. Not that I've heard of. I think everything is still scheduled. There's animals still coming in today for the open class shows and getting settled in.

CATHY WURZER: I know chickens are prone to heat stress. My farmer friends tell me cows mainly have sweat glands in their noses, so they can get hot pretty quick. What other kinds of farm animals are you watching closely for heat distress?

SCOTT LANG: Looking at all of them, pigs are probably the most susceptible. They can't sweat, just like chickens do not have the ability to sweat. So they have to dissipate heat with panting, increase their respiration rate to get some evaporation of water from the lung in their upper airway. And so that's what you'll see with the pigs is an increase in panting as they try to get rid of the heat.

CATHY WURZER: Is heat stress pretty evident in each breed?

SCOTT LANG: Yes. I mean, I would say that, in general, the horses, cattle, sheep, and goats probably all similar. It depends on the environment they're in, how they're housed, where they're at. Of course, that plays a big part just like here at the fair. They're under roofs, so out of the sun, which helps. And then a good ventilation. And if need be, some cooling with water. And of course, providing a lot of fresh, clean water constantly for them to drink.

CATHY WURZER: I mentioned you are an equine medicine specialist. And one of my favorite events is the draft horse hitches. I see the six-horse hitches are performing at 2 o'clock today. The coliseum is pretty cool inside, but you know those horses weigh literally a ton each. What are the potential risks for those animals?

SCOTT LANG: As long as they're not overexerting ahead of time and they have plenty of water, the horses acclimate pretty well to these temperatures. I grew up with Percheron draft horses and we would go to multiple County fairs, and most of the time or really never do I remember having an issue with heat stress. I mean, they do get hot. They are uncomfortable. But as long as they're not overexerting for long periods of time, they should be fine.

CATHY WURZER: I used to show Saddlebreds at the fair. And there were times it was really, really hot. And we used to come right out of the arena and hose them down right there with a hose and then maybe some ice between their legs, perhaps. Have you ever seen that done?

SCOTT LANG: Oh, definitely Yes. Yeah, take them to a wash stall. And they're doing that with the horses and the cattle and the pigs as well too. It's a good way to get cool them down in a timely fashion.

CATHY WURZER: Are you running into any problems with heat stress today? Or I should say this. You're watching for heat stress, but what are the most common health issues that you are seeing at the fair among the animals?

SCOTT LANG: We run into a variety of things. I have not had to treat an animal today for heat stress, but that could come on later or even tomorrow. So thankfully, everything is going well at this point. As far as the other types of things we do run into-- we'll run into animals that develop diarrhea, digestive upset, some respiratory conditions, pneumonia.

Now and then there'll be a lame animal that gets sore from not coming off a trailer or something like that. But it's been a very good fair so far this year. The animals have been very healthy, and we haven't had to treat too many sick ones.

CATHY WURZER: Good. Good. So it sounds like you got the fans going, the big fans in the barn, some of the misting systems, and got the hoses going too. I'm glad to hear that. And I hope you're keeping cool, too, with your staff.

SCOTT LANG: Oh, yeah We have an office here that we do have air conditioning. So thankfully, we have that. And one thing I was going to mention, too, for your listeners is we do have-- a lot of the exhibitors when they're here with their animals, they bring in an adapter that fits on the hose to filter the water, to take the chlorine out and some of the taste that the animals aren't used to being up here versus at home where they're having well water to drink. So that helps the animals want to drink the water and increase their water consumption. So there isn't a lot of change in the taste, which is beneficial at this time.

CATHY WURZER: Exactly. That's what you need. Doctor, thank you. I appreciate it. Take care.

SCOTT LANG: Thank you, Cathy. Bye bye.

CATHY WURZER: We've been talking to state fair veterinarian Scott Lang from the Waseca Veterinary Clinic.