HOT TIP: Don't Leave Water Bottles in a Hot Car!

You might be reading the headline and going, "What in the world?..." but believe it or not, this guy's car almost caught on fire because the weather was too hot! It happened to a driver in Idaho when a bottle of water that he left in his car on a hot day reportedly heated up to 213 degrees. It actually burned a couple of holes in the seat of his car (there's a video below)! While this story sounds like something out of the Idaho Twilight Zone, something like that could likely happen to someone here in Washington state, too, if we're not careful enough.

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Can You Really Start A Fire in Your Car with a Water Bottle?

I am sure you've tried that weather experiment where you crack an egg on the sidewalk and see if it will cook on the pavement. Well, the weather in Washington state has been so hot lately that I bet that you COULD cook an egg on the street! I've also heard of people seeing if they can bake cookies on the dashboard of their cars after leaving it exposed to the hot sun all day. I'm pretty sure that won't work because most cookies need to be baked in at least 350-degree heat, duh. I think that should be common sense but you try and tell that to some people! Baking science be damned, there is a video on how to bake cookies on a car dashboard!

Water Bottles Are Dangerous to Leave in Your Cars-Even in Washington State

We've already had a heat advisory issued this week in parts of the state, so it might be a good idea to take all the water bottles out of your car, especially if they will be exposed to any sunlight. It might be an over precaution but better safe than sorry and have to replace your car!

LOOK: The most expensive weather and climate disasters in recent decades

Stacker ranked the most expensive climate disasters by the billions since 1980 by the total cost of all damages, adjusted for inflation, based on 2021 data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The list starts with Hurricane Sally, which caused $7.3 billion in damages in 2020, and ends with a devastating 2005 hurricane that caused $170 billion in damage and killed at least 1,833 people. Keep reading to discover the 50 of the most expensive climate disasters in recent decades in the U.S.

LOOK: See how much gasoline cost the year you started driving

To find out more about how has the price of gas changed throughout the years, Stacker ran the numbers on the cost of a gallon of gasoline for each of the last 84 years. Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (released in April 2020), we analyzed the average price for a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline from 1976 to 2020 along with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for unleaded regular gasoline from 1937 to 1976, including the absolute and inflation-adjusted prices for each year.

Read on to explore the cost of gas over time and rediscover just how much a gallon was when you first started driving.