St. Louis Melts

From June 28 through July 8th, 2012, St. Louis weather made headlines for sweltering heat. On each of those days the thermometers passed the 100 mark and heat records were broken on 7 of the 10 days. That is 10 days in a row with temperatures over 100! Now while this is a record breaking heat wave there are days in all St. Louis summers where the temperatures sizzle.

With this type of heat many people would choose to stay indoors and avoid the heat. There are people though that have their vacation or staycation planned for a time when the heat is up (most of the summer in St. Louis), so in this lens I will give you my top five tips to stay cool and still enjoy St. Louis!

all photographs by mbgphoto

The 10 day run of heat in June-July 2012 was the second hottest stretch of time in St. Louis. It was second to the brutal summer of 1936 when 479 were killed from the heat. Fortunately, today's air conditioning makes the heat more bearable today.

Here are the temperatures each day from June 28 through July 7.

Note...I wrote the above in early July of 2012. As it turned out the month of July turned out to be even worse. It was the hottest month in recorded history for St. Louis! That is a record I hope we don't beat in a long time

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Here is a great guide if you are looking for more to do in St. Louis

walk into a cool 45 degrees

When it is hot the Penguin and Puffin Coast is a great place to visit at the St. Louis Zoo. This walk through habitat has a temperature of 45-50 degrees Fahrenheit and is the perfect place to cool down and enjoy watching these interesting birds. Last summer my granddaughters and I enjoyed walking through and seeing all of the cute little puffins and of course the wonderful penguins.

If you are visiting the zoo in the heat you may want to circle by the Penguin and Puffin Coast several times during your visit. The St. Louis Zoo also does a great job of providing water sprays throughout the zoo where you can walk through the spray of water and cool off! As an additional benefit...admission to the Zoo is free!

The St. Louis Science Center is a great place to spend a few hours. In this photo my granddaughters are standing by a giant globe. After spending a couple of hours at the zoo we went drove a short distance to visit the Science Center. The Science Center, like the zoo, is located in Forest Park. It is located on both sides of Hwy 40/64 with a covered (and air conditioned) walkway that stretches over the highway. One of the girls favorite things to do was to look in the covered "port hole" and see the cars traveling on the highway below.

In addition to many great displays, and hands on science displays, the Science Center has an Imax theater. It is a great place to enjoy a hot summers day!

A water park is always great fun for kids on a hot day. Here my granddaughters are playing in the water park at the Children's Garden at Missouri Botanical Garden.

Missouri Botanical Garden is one of my favorite places to visit in St. Louis and I love that they have this great place for children to spend too! My granddaughter like to spend time there every time they visit me.

The St. Louis Art Museum is one of the country's largest art museum, housing over 30,000 pieces of art. One great thing about this and most of the attractions in Forest Park is that it is free to the public! Now on a hot day you just can't beat air conditioned AND free!!

I love the spend time at the art museum wondering through the halls and looking at the paintings, sculptures and other artifacts. My favorite is one of Monet's Water Lily panels that is housed in the museum.

fun for all ages

St. Louis City Museum is one of the most fun St. Louis attractions for kids of all ages. It has three floors of tunnels, slides, caves and educational exhibits. There is plenty to do indoors in the air conditioning on a hot day and if you want to brave the heat they also have a lot of great outdoor activities. My granddaughters had a great time at the museum. Plan to spending the whole day here, there is a lot to do!