It took a while, but Mother Nature is finally bringing the heat.
Large parts of Alberta, including Red Deer and central Alberta, were under a heat warning on Monday with temperatures soaring into the 30s for the next several days.
In Red Deer, the Tuesday high is expected to hit 29 C and the heat wave is forecast to peak at 34 C on Wednesday before cooling off slightly to highs in the following days around 26 C, says Environment and Climate Change Canada.
Nighttime temperatures are expected to remain in the low teens, which limits natural cooling.
Central Spray and Play in downtown Red Deer was a popular place to beat the heat on Monday.
Tori Allan was there with sons Noah, 3, and Oscar, 1, who were having a blast playing in the spray park.
"It finally feels like summer," said Allan. "They've been asking about splash parks for a month."
The family did not miss any opportunities to hit the spray park once the weather cooperated.
"We've been out three times already. We sort of took advantage the second it warmed up."
Nearby Julia Sikora was helping her daughter Keirra look after her daughter Eve, 4, and son Rhys, 2.
"This is our third time down here," said Julia.
Her grandchildren have been anxiously waiting for what has been a cool and rainy start to summer to turn the corner into splash-park friendly weather.
"It's been raining a lot. Now, we're finally get some good weather for the next few days at least."
Daytime highs will gradually increase to near 35 C by Wednesday for many regions of Alberta, says Environment Canada. Overnight lows in the mid teens will not provide much relief from the heat.
Heat warnings are issued when very high temperature conditions are expected to pose an elevated risk of heat illnesses, such as heat stroke or heat exhaustion.
Environment Canada held a Zoom media briefing on Monday morning to provide an update on the looming heat wave.
Jennifer Smith, national warning preparedness meteorologist, said a ridge of high pressure sitting over western North America is behind the blast of heat that has prompted heat warnings for parts of B.C., Northwest Territories, Alberta and Saskatchewan.
"While the core or the epicentre of the heat is located further south over northern California, it is expanding north and east this week."
Smith said high pressure causes air to sink and dry out, reducing cloud cover and leading to hot temperatures.
The warm spell is expected to linger into next week in southern B.C. and the Prairie provinces.
While the heat wave is significant it does not compared with the June 2021 heatwave, when "heat warnings thresholds were met and then surpassed by an enormous margin" and many all-time national heat records fell.
"That was truly an anomalous and extreme heat wave," she said.
There were more than 200 daily temperature records set across the province. Red Deer reported a record temperature of 34.8 C on June 30 beating the previous record of 30.6 C set in 1944.
