In the span of just 76 hours Reginans suffered through the hottest temperatures the city ever felt in the month of August – then they bundled in sweaters for a chilly Monday morning.
“Well it’s cooled off significantly, some places are 25 degrees colder than they were just a few days ago,” Terri Lang, a meteorologist with Environment Canada said.
The heat wave that warmed the entirety of western Canada ravaged the province. It set all-time highs in Assiniboia, Broadview and Swift Current, as well as breaking records for the month of August in Regina and throughout southern Saskatchewan.
In total it set or tied 31 daily heat records and nine monthly heat records across the province; topping out at 42.3 C in Moose Jaw on Saturday.
“We don’t see it very frequently at all, of course it depends on the period of record. Ones with short periods of record, those are easier to break, but ones with long periods of record, those are harder to break and we saw a couple of those. That’s significant to see those fall, it really is a significant heat wave,” Lang continued.
Even the draw of the big events across the province couldn’t convince people to get out in the sun.
“It impacted attendance Saturday during the day, but the nighttime was way up, it was up over 30 per cent this year,” Regina Folk Fest CEO Sandra Butel noted.
“Friday and Saturday night I would say is when it started to cool off a little bit that people were okay with going outside and feeling a little more comfortable,” Chantelle Kraushaar, the general manager at Victoria’s Tavern added.
“Well we did see a lower attendance than normal on Friday, but we were able to pick it up on Saturday and Sunday, those more regular temperatures seem to be better for fair goers,” Kristy Rempel, the marketing manager for Prairieland Park, the area that hosted the Saskatoon Exhibition said.
According to Lang the heat came from the southwest United States – namely California, and Nevada – but a cool front, and a cold front quickly thereafter brought low temperatures and thundershowers to central Saskatchewan.
Although this isn’t the worst heat wave in the province’s history, Lang says you would likely have to back to about 1937 to feel a heat wave like the one the province just experienced.