It turned out not to be quite the heat wave meteorologists were predicting in the St. Albert area last weekend, but it sure felt like it.
Environment Canada’s data does not show specific temperatures for St. Albert, but at the Villeneuve airport the daily highs approached 30 Celsius and exceeded that mark on both Thursday and Sunday last week.
On Saturday afternoon, with a reported high of 29.9, people were out in droves in St. Albert trying to take advantage of the great weather – but also doing their level best to stay cool in the process.
Nathan Brown was leading a bike convoy through the Sturgeon River Valley trails, followed by his two children and wife.
Stopping long enough to have a long drag on his water bottle and speak to a reporter about the heat, he shrugged off the high temperatures.
“It’s pretty rough, I guess, but it beats the alternative,” he said. “You can’t complain too loud about the heat in a place where we have six-month winters.”
His son Frasier, 6, said the family was headed to the Woodlands Water Spray Park farther up the trail, which was his idea for what to do on a hot Saturday.
“You just have to go to the pool or spray park to stay cool,” he said. “We’re going to the lake later this summer.”
Jeff Stewart, on the other hand, said rather than avoid the heat he likes to embrace it to get a good sweat on. Running through the river valley trails is typically a twice- or thrice-weekly outing and he wasn’t about to let high temperatures stop him.
“Why fight it? Just keep hydrated and work harder,” he said, adding he planned to find a patio somewhere later to help him keep hydrated.
Alison Devries, who had found the shade of a tree and was hiding out in it, said her plan to beat the heat is simply find somewhere breezy and cool, then stay put.
“I just try to stay out of the sun, and out of the heat,” she said.
Her plan for later in the day was to do some shopping, because big stores and shopping malls almost always have air conditioning.
Madi Martland was at the St. Albert Stars football game Saturday afternoon with her two kids, whose method of dealing with the heat seemed to be trying to sleep right through it.
“This one’s crazy, she’ll sleep through anything,” she said of her infant, but pointing to her older toddler, said, “and she’s just grumpy. She doesn’t want to have a nap.”
Her friend Megan Kliparchuk said one of the best ways to avoid the heat is to avoid coming out to a football game, but if you’re there just find some shade and stay still.
She left her own children at home, but said in the summer the sprinkler is basically running non-stop for the kids to play in, and they do their level best to take advantage of the city’s many water features.
“We go to the splash parks, play on the river, and things like that,” she said.
The weather this week is expected to be hot and sunny, according to Environment Canada, but St. Albertans may get a reprieve. It should cool down a bit over the weekend with scattered showers expected.
