BOISE-- Summer is upon us. The days are warm, the sun is shining and in the Treasure Valley people are out enjoying the nice weather.
Before people go to soak up the sun, they may want to look at a new study ranking cities where skin cancer risks are the greatest. The Daily Beast named Boise the top skin cancer city in the United States.
The online publication based their rankings on the number of clear days a city has each summer and skin cancer rates and deaths for every 100,000 people.
According to the study, Boise has 51 clear summer days and for every 100,000 people in Ada County, 3.9 people die from skin cancer and another 27.3 are diagnosed with skin cancer.
"Telling people to stay out of the sun in Boise is like stopping the sunrise," said George Moses, who was out in the sunshine Sunday at the Boise Tennis Club. "It is just not going to happen."
Moses said players take as many precautions as possible.
"We sit in the shade when we're not on the court, but when you're on the court that is where the sun is, so it is a fact of life," said Moses.
People on the court wore hats to stay covered and some applied sunscreen before they went outside.
For lifeguards at Roaring Springs, sunscreen is not optional. All lifeguards must apply SPF 30 or higher as part of their uniform. They are also required to wear visors and polarized sunglasses to keep themselves protected from the sun.
"Every time I'm on break I put more sunscreen on," said Brigid Crawford, who is in her second summer lifeguarding at Roaring Springs. Crawford uses SPF 50 and makes sure to put on lip protection with sunscreen.
At some point during a lifeguard's shift they will have to stand in the sun, but Roaring Springs has added tents and umbrellas to keep lifeguards and guests shaded.
For lifeguards that are in the sun, Ashley Wolfe, the Operations Coordinator for Roaring Springs said, "We hit them a lot more with sunscreen and water."
One lifeguard's job is to walk around the park and check on other lifeguards to make sure they have enough water and sunscreen.
The Daily Beast ranked Amarillo, Texas, Bakersfield, California, Salt Lake City, Utah and San Diego, California as the other top five skin cancer cities.
