Latest news, weather, high school sports for Michigan’s Upper Peninsula

MARQUETTE -- Record-breaking temperatures, and they were still in the 90s for many parts of the U.P. Wednesday evening.

While many of us may have chosen to stay inside Wednesday, for others, that's just not an option.

If you ask Deb Parker, laborer for Hebert Construction, if she'd swap out Wednesday afternoon for a day in January, she'll give you a definite answer.

"Bring on the heat!"

She's one of seven laborers for Hebert Construction, and despite temperatures over 90 degrees, the job must go on.  Parker says Wednesday's heat wasn't even that bad.

"Weather changes every minute.  We've already been in 40 degree weather, freezing cold, we had fog yesterday," says Parker.  "We have crazy weather everyday, you just have to prepare."

Things really start to fry when you go up above.  Dan Perkins Construction takes on the most jobs when they are able to work with the sunlight in the summer, but that also creates challenges.

"Asphalt shingles can get to 180 degrees," says Perkins.  "So that's blazing heat, like standing on a frying pan all day long."

It's dangerous conditions, whether on the ground or up on a roof, and safety is a big part of these workers' jobs.  Water, sun block and protective glasses are their tools of trade.

"We buy pallets of water from Menards; I go through 2,400 bottles of water in a matter of months," Perkins says.

But despite how uncomfortable it can get, some say it's what they prefer.

'It'd be a lot cooler in an office; still, I'd rather be out and outside, even if it's hot," says Lee Gallup of the Michigan Department of Transportation.