Skip to Search Skip to Live Player Skip to Content Skip to Footer

Augusta area cooling centers help beat the heat

Author Mary Liz Nolan
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JUNE 19: People bring a floor air conditioner into a building on Water Street amid a heat wave on June 19, 2024 in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood of the Brooklyn borough in New York City. NYC along with parts of the Northeast continues to be under a heat advisory with temperatures getting into the 90s, and humidity making temperatures feel like they are above 100 degrees.

You’ve heard of the dog days of summer? We’re in them.

That phrase refers to the hottest, most humid period of summer between early July and early September. It’s usually brutal.

If you live in the CSRA, nobody has to tell you it’s been miserably hot over the past few weeks. Some days the heat index, which is the feels-like temperature, has reached 110 degrees.

Air conditioning becomes most people’s best friend during the summer months, but not everyone has access to a place where they can sit and cool off.

Here’s a list of cooling centers in the area, for those who need to escape the extreme heat, especially during the hottest time of the day.

Augusta

  • Bernie Ward Center: 1941 Lumpkin Road. (706) 790-0588. Hours are 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday-Friday
  • Blythe Center: 3129 Highway 88. (706) 592-4988. Hours are 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday-Friday
  • Carrie J. Mays Center: 1014 11th (706) 821-2827. Hours are 10:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday-Friday
  • Diamond Lakes Regional Park: 4335 Windsor Spring Road (706) 826-1370. Hours are 6a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week
  • May Park: 622 4th Street (706) 724-0504. Hours are 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day except Sunday
  • McBean Center: 1155 Hephzibah/McBean Road in Hephzibah (706) 560-2628. Open Monday-Friday
  • Sand Hills Center: 2540 Wheeler Road (706) 842-1912. Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday
  • T. Johnson Center: 1606 Hunter Street (706) 821-2866. Hours are 9 a.m. to noon.
  • Warren Road Center: 300 Warren Road (706) 860-2833. Hours are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day except Sunday

Columbia County

  • Eubanks Blanchard Community Center: 6868 Cobbham Road (706) 868-3349. Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. seven days a week
  • Grovetown Park Community Center: 1040 Newmantown Road (706) 860-7691. Hours are 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven days a week
  • Harlem Senior Center: 381 W. Church St. in Harlem (706) 449-8400. Hours are 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday-Friday

Aiken

  • Odell Weeks Activities Center: 1700 Whiskey Road (803) 642-7631. Hours are 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven days a week
  • Lessie B. Price Senior & Youth Center: 841 Edgefield Avenue NW in Aiken (803) 643-2181. Monday-Friday

Summer doesn’t end until September 22, so do your best to beat the heat in the weeks ahead. Wear light-colored, loose-fitting clothing, stay hydrated, find shade, take breaks if you’re working and avoid going outside during the hottest hours of the day.

Mary Liz Nolan mugshot. Mary Liz Nolan is a contributing writer for Augusta Today and News Director at WGAC.
Mary Liz Nolan, Writer

Mary Liz Nolan has been News Director at WGAC since 1995 and in the radio business since 1979. She is a graduate of DePauw University and began her radio career in her hometown of Columbus, Indiana. While working at WGAC, Mary Liz has been honored with seven Edward R. Murrow Awards as well as multiple honors from the Associated Press and the Georgia Association of Broadcasters. Mary Liz’s husband, Tom, is a Navy veteran and retired from Ft. Gordon in 1995. They have 2 adult children.

Author Mary Liz Nolan
Category:

More News

Load More