Feeling the heat
City beaches, pools, splash pads bracing for higher demand this summer
With Environment Canada predicting a hotter than normal summer for Peterborough and much of Ontario, the city’s public beaches, wading pools and splash pads are preparing for an increase in demand.
“I’m assuming it will be very busy this year,” said Stephanie Fraser, who helps organize the city’s Summer Aquatics program. “Definitely, yes, we are expecting more demand.”
Most areas of Ontario, including Peterborough, have posted 12 or more consecutive months of hotter than normal weather and the summer projections are no different, Environment Canada meteorologist Geoff Coulson said.
“For pretty much all of Ontario we’re expecting the summer to be somewhat warmer than normal,” he said.
How much rain will accompany that weather, however, is uncertain, he said. Rain patterns have been fluctuating in different parts of the province and single, major thunderstorms can dump a month’s worth of rain in one sitting, he said.
“Forecasting precipitation at this time of year can be a challenge because of the localized nature of it,” Coulson said.
Peterborough just left behind a month of May with far less rain than normal while embarking on a June that is looking much wetter than normal.
The city only got 54.8 millime- tres of rain in May, which is well below the average May rainfall of 72.8 mm.
June typically brings about 77 mm of rain and already Peterborough has seen 68 mm, most of which fell in one rainstorm.
Monday’s temperature peaked at about 28 C and Environment Canada predicts temperatures in the mid-to-high 20s throughout the week.
Dozens of parents were taking advantage of the splash pad at King Edward Park Monday afternoon.
That unsupervised facility runs 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily from now until September. The Riverview Park and Zoo operates its popular splash pad from May to October, featuring dumping buckets, water cannons, geysers and bubblers. The zoo is open daily from 8:30 a.m. to dusk.
The city’s two supervised public beaches – Beavermead Park beach on Ashburnham Dr. and Rogers Cove on Maria St. – will be open from June 29 to Aug. 19, running 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The beaches will be tested daily for E. coli presence and a flag system will tell residents whether the water is safe to swim in, Fraser said.
The city’s five wading pools — Barnardo Park, Knights of Columbus, Turner Park, Otonabee Park and John Taylor Memorial Park — will also open June 29 and will run daily from 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
“Parents like the wading pools because they are free and it’s a nice way to cool off. They are located in lots of neighbourhoods across the city. You don’t have to drive far to get to them,” Fraser said.
Peterborough’s Summer Aquatics program will once again provide theme days at each of the five wading pool locations and the two beaches throughout the summer months that include crafts, games and prizes.