Record heat wave for Niagara
A record-breaking heat wave hit Niagara this weekend, while scorching temperatures continued Monday and are expected Tuesday.
Geoff Coulson, a warning-preparedness meteorologist with Environment Canada, said temperatures reached 31.7 C on Sunday at its observation site in Welland.
That broke the previous Sept. 24 record of 31 C set in 2010. Records date back to 1873. Coulson said “we could be getting into record territory again” as a high of 31 C was forecast for Monday and Tuesday.
The current record for Sept. 25 and Sept. 26 is 30.6 C set in 1934 and 1881, respectively.
“We’re seeing a pattern that we would have normally expected to see back in July and August, and that’s basically a big area of high pressure pretty much stationary south of the lower Great Lakes acting as a big heat pump, bringing up the very hot and humid air from the American deep south,” said Coulson.
“A lot of our flow patterns in July and August were more out of the west and the northwest, and kept us around seasonal for the temperatures for the most part. We didn’t really see a lot in the way of 30-plus temperatures during those months, and yet here we are in late September locked into a pattern that’s more reminiscent of the height of summer than the beginning of fall.”
He said temperatures should cool down later this week.
“When our area of high pressure finally breaks down, it’s probably going to be late Wednesday into Thursday — maybe some showers being kicked off Wednesday, maybe some thunderstorms as well, but then temperatures on Thursday (will be) much closer to seasonal values.”
Environment Canada forecasts a high of 21 C on Thursday.
Coulson said the normal high for this time of year is 19 C.
Municipalities opened splash pads this past weekend, as an excessive heat alert was issued by Niagara Region on Friday.
A heat warning by Environment Canada was in effect on Monday for north and south Niagara.
The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario renewed its calls for the provincial government to address excessive heat and humidity conditions in elementary schools.
“Students and teachers in many classrooms are subject to unbearable conditions with temperatures over 30 degrees,” said union president Sam Hammond.
“That takes an unacceptable toll on teaching and learning. Schools found themselves in the same situation one year ago. Our changing climate is sending a strong message that the Ministry of Education needs to take action.”
The union represents 78,000 elementary public school teachers, occasional teachers and education professionals across the province.
In August, the union passed a series of motions at its annual meeting calling on the government to take action, such as ensuring all schools have a heat stress plan; setting maximum indoor temperature limits which mandate school boards and schools to take action, including closing schools if necessary; and providing air conditioning or heat-reduction systems.
“While we recognize that air conditioning can be expensive, there are significant costs in not fixing the problem,” said Hammond.
“The current haphazard approach compromises teaching and learning conditions and can have serious health impacts for children and staff including asthma. There are also other means to help deal with these issues such as having classroom windows that can open and having cooling stations where students and educators can be rotated to during the day.”
District School Board of Niagara spokesman Brett Sweeney said schools are doing all they can to help students beat the heat.
He said the majority of classrooms do not have air conditioning for a number of reasons.
“We have older buildings, and to retrofit would be prohibitively expensive,” he said. “We don’t get funded for air conditioning equipment, specifically, so that would be something that would have to come out of the DSBN budget, which simply the money isn’t available for that.”
Sweeney said during periods of excessive heat, schools limit strenuous activities for students.
“We encourage students to drink water regularly.”
He said windows are opened in the classrooms to increase air circulation.
“If there are fans available in the building, those will be brought into classrooms to help keep that air moving.”
Sweeney said blinds are also closed to reduce some of the heat from the sun.
“We do have some areas in buildings that do have AC, and usually that’s the learning commons because there’s a lot of electronic equipment in there that needs to remain at a certain temperature,” he said.
“Students can, and classes can, relocate to those areas to get a little bit of respite from the heat.”
John Crocco, director of education for Niagara Catholic District School Board, said whenever the board receives heat or cold alerts, it immediately sends out notifications to its principals.
“Our principals will continue to take every reasonable precaution in the circumstances of where their school is located for the continued safety of our students and staff,” he said.
Crocco said about 30 per cent of Catholic schools either have air conditioning, or dehumidifiers, whether it’s throughout the whole school, or parts of the building, such as library information centres, or main offices.
“A majority of our classrooms have ceiling fans.”
He said activities were restricted on Monday, while school officials regularly reminded students to stay hydrated.
“We have hydration stations in our schools, so the students have access to fill up their water bottles.”
Crocco said soccer games and cross-country activities scheduled in some schools were cancelled.
“A number of the schools where you would have say a library information centre that has air conditioning, depending on the school and how they do it, they may rotate classes within that library so that the kids have a cooling period during the day.”
As for the rest of fall, Coulson said more seasonal temperatures are likely to finish off September, with some heat returning in early October.
“There are some indications from the models that we do see temperatures bouncing back a bit as we get into that first week of October,” he said.
“Not necessarily perhaps the level of record-breaking heat we have right now, but if our normal highs for this time of year are around 18 or 19, we could be back into the 20s again for parts of the first week of October, and overall for the month, the models are starting to come into line saying that October is expected to be a little bit warmer than normal.”