The heat wave gripping the region was good for business at Indiana Dunes State Park Tuesday morning. The beach was crowded before lifeguards took their stands at 11 a.m.
Lifeguard Matthew Billings is in his second year guarding at the beach and had plenty of advice for people to stay safe. “We commonly find that people get heat exhaustion,” he said. “It’s the most common thing we see with this kind of heat wave. People don’t drink enough water.”
Or wear enough sunscreen. Or take advantage of the cooling effect of the water, conditions permitting. “It’s actually better to cool off in the water instead of just bask in the sun,” Billings said. “If people aren’t in the water, it becomes more dangerous because the water is about 60 degrees.”
The National Weather Service has issued an extreme heat warning through midnight Thursday, with dangerously hot conditions and heat index values around 105 degrees expected each afternoon, for much of Illinois and Northwest Indiana.
People throughout the region are finding ways to beat the heat, including with a trip to the beach.
Best friends and teachers Amanda Winland, of Valparaiso, and Becky Cole, of Chesterton, along with Cole’s college-age daughter Addison Cole, were enjoying “teacher life!” Tuesday at the state park.
“This is our favorite thing to do in the summer,” Winland said, “as often as we can. Not so much this year because of the weather.”
Casey Sullivan, meteorologist with the Chicago National Weather Service Office in Romeoville, Illinois, said his office is predicting temperatures in the mid-90s Wednesday and Thursday, lower 90s Friday, 80s Saturday with the best chance of showers and thunderstorms, and lower 80s by Sunday.
The office only forecasts seven days out, but he said Lake and Porter counties can expect cooler temperatures possible by the weekend and through Tuesday.
“We had been relatively cool, or near-normal for the last few days,” he said, before the heat wave began. “A heat dome isn’t necessarily a term that we use,” he explained. “A heat wave is several days above 90 degrees.”
Whatever you call it, father and son duo Scott and Timothy Mayer of Indianapolis and Chicago, respectively, were making their escape playing frisbee in the water with plans to jet ski in Michigan City later in the day.
“I’m up here and he’s down here because it’s so hot,” Scott Mayer said. “We just decided to take a break from work because it’s so hot.”
A few yards from them, the Prikkel family of Valparaiso was playing in the water.
“We got here like 9:30 before the parking lot got too crazy,” said dad Tim. Mom Andrea and kids Jonah, Harmony and Thomas were exercising the family’s approach to staying cool. “Get in the water,” said Jonah, 9.
Up near the parking lot, regulars Rebecca Ashley and Jeff Blaschke, of Portage, were chilling in the shade of a tree. “We’ve been coming here for years,” said Blaschke. They come about three times a week and aren’t deterred by the hot weather.
“We try to get here early,” said Ashley, explaining they’d arrived around 8:30. “It’s our favorite beach of all the beaches we travel to. We like the lake water. There is no comparison of the ocean to this beach here. Most beaches we go to don’t have the dunes.”
Billings’ best advice for staying happy and safe at the beach is to watch how long you stay in the sun, remain calm in deeper water, and watch out for your neighbor.
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“Be calm and comfortable when you swim is the most important thing,” he said of people venturing into water where they can’t stand up.
To avoid heat exhaustion and stroke, “know your limit,” he adds. “Make sure you get shade when you need it.” And “it does help having awareness if you’re a patron of the park. Make sure your neighbors are breathing, and anything you’re unsure about, ask the lifeguard.”
Shelley Jones is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
COOLING CENTERS
Cooling centers can also be found by calling 211.
Chesterton
Duneland Family YMCA, 215 Roosevelt St.; 9 a.m.-9 p.m. through Friday, 10 a.m.- 2 p.m. Sunday.
Thomas Branch, Westchester Public Library, 200 W. Indiana Ave.; 9 a.m.-9 p.m. through Thursday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday.
Chesterton Police Department vestibule, 790 Broadway; open 24 hours a day; the vestibule is a small space with a few chairs but no public restroom facilities.
Crown Point
First United Methodist Church of Crown Point, 352 S. Main St.; 10 a.m.-6 p.m. through Thursday.
Gary
Monroe Smith Warming and Cooling Center, 4101 Washington St.; 10 a.m.-6 p.m. daily.
Calumet Township Multipurpose Center, 1900 W. 41st. Ave.; 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Brothers’ Keeper (adult men and women only), 2120 Broadway Ave.; 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Merrillville
Dean and Barbara White Community Center, 6600 Broadway; 6 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday through Friday, 7 a.m.-8 p.m. Saturday, and 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday
Portage
Woodland Park main building, 2100 Willowcreek Road; 7 a.m.-9 p.m. through Thursday.
Valparaiso
Valparaiso Family YMCA, 1201 Cumberland Crossing; 5 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday through Friday, 7 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday.
Porter County Public Library, Valparaiso Branch, 103 Jefferson St.; 9 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and 1-5 p.m. Sunday.
Daybreak Resource Center, 500 Don Hovey Drive; 7 a.m. – 7 p.m. Monday-Sunday.