Decatur - As the mercury shot up over 100 in Decatur Friday thousands of construction workers, food vendors, police and firefighters did their work outside across central Illinois.
"Back by the fryer it's 105 degrees maybe," said food vendor Jon Jones who operates a truck at the corner of Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive and Eldorado Street. Pointing to a temperature gauge in the front of the truck "Up here it's 96 degrees."
Road construction on a new section of Route 51 continued despite the heat in Assumption. Workers laid asphalt where a bank sign showed 95 degrees at 10:43am.
In downtown Decatur workers laid bricks for new sidewalks. One worker said when it comes to working in extreme heat or cold, working in the summer is harder. "The heat. I can always put enough clothes on," he told WAND News. "But I can't take enough off."
In the WAND Storm Center chief meteorologist Lee Davis said the temperature hit 103 on Friday in Decatur. It climbed to 99 in Champaign, 101 in Springfield and 104 was the hot spot in Matton. The National Weather Service has issued an excessive heat warning which is in effect until 7pm Sunday.
The Salvation Army in Danville says it is opening a cooling station at its facility next Monday through Friday. The hours are from 10am - 3pm. The cooling station will continue to operate as "long as the heat index remains dangerously high." For more information, call 442-5911.
Meanwhile, in his food truck, Jones is taking a positive attitude in regards to the heat. "You think it's cool, you stay cool. I try not to think about the heat, so I beat the heat."
