A good night’s sleep has been in short supply these last few nights, as the heat wave brings with it unseasonably high nighttime temperatures.
The heat dome might have brought record-breaking daytime highs, but overnight temperatures have been well above normal as well.
“During this heat wave, temperatures overnight are what you would typically expect during the day,” said Armel Castellan, an Environment Canada meteorologist. “The body needs to recover overnight and it can’t do so if it is too hot.”
Environment Canada typically issues a heat warning when nighttime minimum temperatures are warmer than 16 C. In the last few nights, temperatures have been in the 20s.
Wayne Sawlor, who was having a cool drink with his wife, Ruth, at Starbucks in Cook Street Village on Tuesday, said he plans to buy a portable air-conditioning unit. “I have been planning to do so for the last 28 years — but I just procrastinated. Before the heat wave, we just had one tiny fan but my son lent us one of his — and it is huge.”
He said that it took the two of them to wrestle it into their apartment.
He also has a newfound appreciation for nature.
“My neighbour has a massive, 140-year-old tree in his yard,” said the 82-year-old. “I really hated it — until now.”
Shawn Haley, who was walking his 10-year-old dog Petal near Cook Street on Tuesday, said he hasn’t slept much for the last two nights because he was frantically trying to keep Petal cool.
“I was wrapping her in wet towels to keep her cool,” said Haley, 39. “I had to change the towels once an hour.”
He also had three fans blowing over ice that he had crushed in a blender to keep the temperatures in his top-floor apartment bearable.
“I also took Petal to work with me during the day, as the air-conditioning in the vehicle would keep her cool. Last night, I took her for a long leisurely drive as well.”
When the temperature at Phillip and Carly Anderson’s apartment hit 30 C, they filled the baby bathtub with cool water to cool down their eight-month-old before bedtime.
Carly, who grew up in the Royal Oak area, said the last few days have been the hottest she can remember.
“This is definitely next-level heat,” she said. To cope, the couple has started taking their nine-year-old dog for walks earlier in the morning and later in the evenings.
Eric Cameron, who was sitting in a turquoise deck chair on Cook Street, said he lived in Winnipeg before moving to Victoria a year ago, and this heat wave is what you would typically experience in Winnipeg’s short, hot summer.
“The difference is that most of the apartments in Winnipeg are equipped with air-conditioners, making the heat more manageable,” said Cameron, 27, who lives in a non-air-conditioned apartment. “I still find living in Victoria more comfortable, thanks in part to a breeze coming off the water.”
To beat the heat, he said, he drinks more liquids and puts a wet cloth on his head and neck to cool down.
