With hot weather returning to southern Manitoba, the RCMP remind parents not to leave small children alone in a vehicle for any length of time.

Sergeant Paul Menaigre stresses it's something that fortunately doesn't happen often.

"It just takes one incident to become a tragedy," he says, "We're at the time of year now, with the temperatures hovering into the high 20s, the low 30s, and then when you factor in humidity, if you look at a vehicle with windows closed, temperatures can be pushing the high 40s Celsius, which is extremely dangerous for infants, babies, and small children."

Menaigre urges you to be mindful of the danger.

"People have busy lives nowadays," he says, "Where there are so many things going through your mind, and you might just happen to be stopping somewhere to get something, not realizing 'oh, I've got a young child that could be sleeping in the back, and it's not making any noise', so there are usually those kinds of factors that weigh into the reasons why people, unfortunately, leave children unattended."

It's predicted temperatures will be in the mid-to-high 20s this week.