Hot Cars: Temp Jumped 40 Degrees In Just 7 Minutes

PRINCETON, NJ — Princeton police, in an effort to show the town's residents just how hot the inside of a car can get in the sun, sent an animal control officer to be the guinea pig. Animal Control Officer Jim Ferry sat in a car, with all four windows cracked, tracking the temperature change.

Ferry showed a thermometer which jumped from the upper 70's to nearly 100 degrees in just two-and-a-half minutes.

Police say every year they and animal control respond to calls in which people left dogs in locked cars "just for a minute." But unforeseen delays, like lines at the register or food not being ready, leave dogs and children to suffer in the quickly rising temperature.

"Today's forecast says 88 degrees, which means oven like temps for parked cars," Princeton police said in a Facebook post Monday.

In seven minutes, the temperature reached 110 degrees.

Dogs pant to expel heat, Ferry said in the video, instead of sweating like humans. So, when the dog is surrounded by hot, stagnant air, it's "almost impossible" to cool down.

Ferry's iPad stopped working due to the heat.

While they were filming, police got a call about a dog left in a car, the post said.