Hit with heat

Record-breaking temperatures recorded across Cape Breton

DOMINION — Sevenyear-old Liam Daley and his six-year-old brother Kohen laughed excitedly as they ran in and out of the waves at Dominion beach on Friday.

Jumping in the waves or sitting on the beach to let the waves roll over them, the brothers kept cool in the record-breaking heat, which Environment Canada reported was 33 C — two degrees higher than the previous high set in 1949.

The brothers were at the beach with their father Allan, who said the family will often

head to Dominion Beach or Big Glace Bay Beach to beat the heat when the weather is hot.

But with the cold spring Cape Breton had, Allan said he wasn’t prepared for record-breaking heat this late in the spring.

“Not used to heat like this after all the cold we had. It just hits you,” he said, sitting in his lawn chair, keeping a watchful eye on his sons. “But I’ll take it.”

Allan said he was surprised by the low number of people on the beach because of the hot day.

“I thought there’d be a lot more people here,” he said gazing down the first of two beaches which make up Dominion Provincial Park.

The beach was scattered with people, walking or sitting in small groups who mostly kept their minimum distance of two metres apart. Signs along the boardwalk and on the public washrooms remind people of social distancing rules, required by law for attendees of the beach.

Renita Macintyre from River Ryan was beating the heatwave at Polar Bear Beach in South Bar, a community she grew up in.

After testing the water she said it was “relatively warm compared to what time of the year it is … this is named Polar Bear Beach for a reason.”

The married mother said the late spring heatwave, which caused Environment Canada to issue heat warnings for at least two days, might have shocked her before but not this year.

“It's unusual for sure, but look at what else is unusual for this time of year,” she said. “It's 2020. Everything is unusual.”

RECORD-BREAKER

Environment Canada reported temperatures in Sydney reached 33 C on Friday, which was 38 C with the Humidex factored in.

The average high for June 19 is 19.5 C, while the average low is 8.2 C. The lowest temperature record was just a degree above the freezing point back in 1946.

Cindy Day reported in Saltwire Network's Weather By Day afternoon report on Friday that most of the

Atlantic provinces had record-breaking temperatures — except for Newfoundland and Labrador. They are at the end of the weather system causing the heatwave and temperatures there were between low teens and low-20s.

Temperatures will drop again on Saturday, with a high of 24 C that will drop to 13 C by the afternoon. Day reports the temperatures will “bounce right back” to summer highs after that.

NICOLE SULLIVAN/CAPE BRETON POST Beachgoers enjoy a walk along Dominion beach on June 19, while other dip into the cool ocean during the second day of a heat wave which saw temperature to 38 C with humidex at 3 p.m. The beach was scarcely filled with people, unlike hot days in the past and there were signs on washrooms reminding people of social distancing protocols required in Nova Scotia while in recovery from the COVID-19 outbreak.

NICOLE SULLIVAN/CAPE BRETON POST Seven-year-old Liam Daley braces for the wave as his brother Kohen, 6, laughs on the shore. Both were excited to be playing in the waves at Dominion Beach on Friday although it seemed neither went as far as dunking their heads completely under.

NICOLE SULLIVAN/CAPE BRETON POST Paige Tucker, 10, happily cleans her family’s new pool before taking another dip with her sister and a friend on Friday.