The children, aged 1 and 3, were left in car seats in the back of a silver minivan, with the windows slightly cracked and the car not running, said Sgt. Craig Stout with the Fayetteville Police Department.
Police and firefighters responded to the scene to make sure the children were OK. No one was been transported to the hospital, according to Central Emergency Medical Services.
The woman was not arrested, but the case was documented by police and sent to the state Department of Human Services, Stout said.
A customer walking out of the Aldi noticed the children in the back of the van and notified police at about 1:01 p.m. Officers responded within five minutes and retrieved the children from the back of the vehicle, police said.
The children were likely in the car for about 10 minutes, according to police.
Officers found the children's mother inside the grocery store with another child, Stout said.
Temperatures reached 89 degrees in the area Tuesday afternoon, according to 5NEWS Chief Meteorologist Garrett Lewis.However, temperatures inside a vehicle can soar by 20 degrees or more within 10 minutes, he said. That spike in temperature is caused by infrared radiation heating the vehicle's seats, which then heats the vehicle's interior.