TYLER (KYTX) - We're heading into the middle of summer, and once again, facing harsh temperatures above 100 degrees.
People who spend their days outside are having to adjust their schedules around peak heat times.
Lifting housing materials and handling heavy machinery is a task in itself, but doing that in 105 degree heat can put your health in danger.
"Once it starts getting above 100 is when we start making the changes," says Gary Bayless, owner of Bayless Custom Homes.
He says as the summer temps get higher, his workers have to start earlier.
"We usually start about the time the sun comes up, 6 or so in the morning and usually we're done by 2."
Those are necessary schedule changes to avoid heat exhaustion.
"It's necessary to know the signs," Bayless says. "Fatigue, dizziness, nausea. If you get past that point you come to a heat stroke which is life threatening."
Whether you're working in a construction zone or practicing out on the football field, in these triple digit temperatures, there's one thing you need to do first and foremost to stay safe, and that's hydrate.
"That's the thing in football," says Mike Hall, Head Coach at All Saints Episcopal School in Tyler. "You're wearing so much equipment. Also, now that so many fields are turf fields, that ups the heat quite a bit. On a day like today, that field is probably about 125 - 130 degrees."
Coach Hall says the severity of heat related illness hits home for him.
"I lost my best friend last year, the coach from Plano Prestonwood. He and I have worked together many years. They were midway through practice and he had a heat related heart attack," Hall says.
With his friend's memory in mind Hall is focusing on safety first this season.
"Hydration and length of time that we keep the kids out on the field. We're going to keep them out no more than 45 minutes at a time."
They'll start practice in a week, and just like the construction crews we talked to, Coach Hall and his players are starting early in the morning.
If you do have to be out in the sun in these extreme temperatures, make sure you're wearing light clothes that breathe. If you start to overheat, drink fluids and get yourself to a cool area.
