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Heat wave: Central Alberta communities tie temperature records

Red Deer reaches 31 C
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Rocky Mountain House and Sundre were hot enough on Monday to tie previous temperature records.

The last time Rocky hit 29.8 C was in 2001, and Sundre reached 31.5 C like it did in 2008.

Red Deer only reached 31 C, which fell short of the 32.9 C record set in 2001.

A heat warning was issued Monday and Tuesday for central Alberta and people were reminded to take precautions to protect themselves from the heat.

Red Deer was forecast to reach 31 C on Tuesday, with similar temperatures around the region.

“It might be feeling like it’s pretty hot here because the first part of summer was actually pretty cool. Summer showed up at the end of July, and in August it’s been above normal generally,” said Alysa Pederson, meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada.

She said typically August is when hot stretches occur, but they can happen anytime in the summer.

“We can even hit, in Alberta, hot weather stretching into September,” Pederson said.

By Wednesday temperatures will start to cool down to normal temperatures for this time of year which is 22 C.

Related:

Heat warning in effect for central Alberta

Heat warning in effect for Red Deer, central Alberta

She said it is harder to meet heat warning criteria in late August or September because overnight lows are taken into consideration and by then temperatures can dip below 10 C.

Crops also add less moisture to the air compared to July.

“The higher the moisture the content is, the higher the overnight temperatures will stay. In August, we’re in the later life stages of crops, some crops are starting to be harvested, which means there will be less moisture added to the atmosphere which means the overnight low temperatures can drop.”



szielinski@reddeeradvocate.com

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