EVERETT — Brayden Wammack approached with caution.
The Arlington toddler first stuck his foot into the cool water burbling about a foot off the ground before racing back to his father’s side.
Emboldened, the 20-month-old again ventured forth to the spout at the water park at Forest Park in Everett. This time he stuck his hand in before beating a hasty retreat.
Finally, he backed in rump-first, soaking his diaper and swimsuit with great satisfaction.
“It’s great to finally have nice weather,” said Brayden’s dad, Tracy Wammack.
The father and son had plenty of company at Forest Park, where the first signs of a late-arriving summer emerged Tuesday.
“I wasn’t sure if summer was ever going to get here,” said Marysville resident Amy Norton, who paid a visit to the water park with her husband, Scott, 16-month-old daughter, Olivia, and two other youngsters she was baby-sitting.
Temperatures reached into the 70s Tuesday and highs are expected to rise into the 80s on Wednesday and Thursday, with inland areas, such as Monroe, likely to exceed 90 degrees.
The sudden surge into summer led the state Department of Health on Tuesday to issue a reminder to parents and guardians to make sure they don’t leave children in parked cars.
From 1998 through late last month, 465 children across the country died from heatstroke when they were unattended in vehicles that became too hot for them to survive. That includes 20 so far this year. It can happen even under relatively cool conditions.
In April 2009, a 1-year-old boy died in a car outside of a Lynnwood nursing home on a 69-degree day because his body temperature soared in the car’s heat. Children are more susceptible because their body temperatures can rise three to five times faster than an adult’s.
“It is important for adults to pay attention and remember children are in the car,” said state health officer Dr. Maxine Hayes, a pediatrician. “When they vary from normal routine, adults need (to) remind themselves about children in the car. Too often, people get busy and forget a child is in the car.”
The National Weather Service office in Seattle also warned Tuesday that the rising temperatures can cause sunstroke, heatstroke and heat exhaustion with prolonged exposure or physical activity.
The arrival of summer heat comes after a cool June.
“I think people are getting pretty itchy,” said Dennis D’Amico, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Seattle. “We certainly had a wet June and daytime highs were not all that warm.”
D’Amico warned that rivers are still cold and are a little more swollen than normal for this time of year.
Rebecca Stevenson, chief meteorologist for KIRO-TV, said it will be toasty, but temperatures should drop by the weekend. It will be a lot more pleasant than the heat wave scorching the East Coast.
“We are not going to be in excruciating humidity,” Stevenson said. “We will be on the dry side.”
Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446, stevick@heraldnet.com.
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