Nearly all of Manitoba under extreme heat warning as dome of hot weather moves east

Manitoba continued to roast on Friday as a dome of intense heat moves east across the Prairies. The City of Winnipeg and organizations working with people at risk in Winnipeg are taking steps tohelp provide some respite from the heat.

All of the province, except the Churchill and York areas near Hudson Bay, remainsunder an extreme heat warning, after some northern communities shattered heat records on Canada Day.

Temperatures hoverd in the mid-30s in many parts of Manitoba Friday afternoon, according to Environment and Climate Change Canada, andovernight lows are expected to remain in the upper teens or low 20s.

The dangerous heat will stay in place through Saturday, before a north to south shifttowardseasonal temperatures on Sunday into Monday, the weather agency says.

Heat has baked the province, and the Prairie region as a whole, for the last week.

In northern Manitoba, Lynn Lake reached a sweltering 38 C on Thursday, far higher than its previous record of 30.4 C set in 1981, Environment Canada said.

Several other records were matched or broken on Thursday, according to Environment Canada.

Churchillhit 34 C on Thursday, breakingthe record of 31.1 set in 1976. Just a bit south, Thompson set a new record with 34.7 C, up from 33.1 C in 1989.

Steinbach'snew record is 30.9 C, just slightly over its old one of 30 set in 1989. Swan River also broke its old record from 1981 by just a fraction of a degree with 33.4 C; its record was 33 C, set in 1981. Gillammatched its record from 1989 with 34.4 C.

The weather agency warns Manitobans to watch for heat-related illnesses and to stay out of direct sunlight, drink plenty of waterand seek out shade or air conditioning.

Cooling stations open

The City of Winnipeg and community groups have opened cooling stations and areprovidingwater.

Anishiative, Main Street Project and CommUnity 204 opened up a centre this week at 44 Martha St.

"The community has been a huge help so far," said River Nepinak-Fontaine, who helped organize the effort.

"It actually gave me a tear to my eye, seeing how much our community stepped up and came to bring us water, bring us sunscreen, bring anything that we can to help out as much people as we can."

Nepinak-Fontainesaid volunteers set up tents, lit a sacred fire and offered to smudge anyone who passes through. People can also get food, water and other supplies.

"They need help as much as they can," he saidabout people in need.

"I had somebody come through without shoes yesterday and I made it my mission that day to get them a pair of shoes."

The city has opened up the main floor of city hall as a cooling centreand set up a tent with water in Central Park.

Emergency management co-ordinator Lisa Gilmour said the city hall site is important for the area.

"We tried to look at areas where we know there's not a lot open right now," she said. There are people in the area who have no access to any other space to cool off, she said.

Gilmour said the city has also partnered with several community centres in Winnipegto act as neighbourhood cooling sites. They includeWestdale Community Centre, Valley Gardens Community Club, South Transcona Community Centre and Norberry-GlenleeCommunity Centre, the citysaid.

It'salso deployed drinking water tanksto the Broadway Neighbourhood Centre, Spence Neighbourhood Association,the Salvation Army on Henry Avenue and Bear Clan Patrol's headquarters on Selkirk Avenue.

All libraries will also have bottled water available during regular hours, the city said.

Winnipeggerssizzling but strategizing

Spray bottles, spray pads and seeking shade these areamong the heat-busting solutions people young and olderin Winnipeg were using to try and stay cool Friday.

"I've been getting really burned it's too hot for me," said Savannah Hogue, 9. She chose to get cool at a city spray pad on Friday, but said she'd been out to swim at Birds Hill Park and Winnipeg Beach in recent days.

Fred Cameron spritzed a spray bottle of water into the air to show how he manages.

"That's about it.[I] try to avoid the sun rays at all times."

Roommates Gemma Martinez and Tijana Alouska said they'd spend most of their time in the shade in a park near their Corydon-area apartment one without air conditioning.

Neither could remember it being so hot in Winnipeg before. Each said despite that, they were still going to venture out to a city skate park, one with a city-provided fresh water tank.

Cameron joked he had a solution for Saturday, when the mercury is expected to riseeven higher.

"I'm just going to strip down to nothing," he laughed. "It's going to be a hot one."

Manitoba under extreme heat warning

3 years ago

Duration 2:31

Manitoba continued to roast on Friday as a dome of intense heat moves east across the Prairies. The City of Winnipeg and organizations working with people at risk in Winnipeg are taking steps to help provide some respite from the heat.