Summer in spring: Sask. cities soak up hottest day, so far

When you live in a winter city, summer sure feels good.

Even though the season doesn’t officially start for another month, people were out Tuesday enjoying the hottest day of the year so far.

Erin Carson spent hours outside at the River Landing amphitheatre in Saskatoon, leading groups of students through drama activities.

“Incredible, we couldn’t have asked for a better day to be honest. And thank goodness for these clouds – otherwise we’d be overheating,” Carson said.

Saskatoon beat its forecast high by several degrees, reaching 31 C Tuesday, while Regina got up to 32 C. The average temperature this time of year in both cities is around 18 C.

Jim Schinborn, owner of the JP Good Stuff food truck in Regina, packages up a bag of mini-doughnuts on May 15, 2018. (Britton Gray/980 CJME)

Jim Schinborn owns and operates the JP GoodStuff food truck, selling things like mini-donuts and freezies.

On Tuesday, he said he’s lucky enough to have air conditioning in his truck.

“I know some guys who don’t have air conditioning in their trailer and they’re hugged right up to their deep fryers – and they look like they sweat a little more,” Schinborn said.

Samul Asfaw works in downtown Regina at one of the Frank Carts hotdog stands.

He said the warmer weather doesn’t always mean business will be booming.

“When it gets really hot, people don’t want to come out. They stay inside the mall,” he said.

For those who’d rather stay inside, air conditioning appears to be the number one priority.

Curtis Beingessner, the owner of Arrow Plumbing and Heating in Regina, said he’s received a spike calls from people wanting to install or fix their air conditioner.

“It always seems like the couple warm days, the phones go a little bit berserk – which is good for us,” he said.

Beingessner added if homeowners don’t feel cool air when they turn up the air conditioner, they should check their furnace filters and clean off the AC unit outside.

Samuel Asfaw grills up hotdogs at his street cart in Regina on May 15, 2018. (Britton Gray/980 CJME)

“Air flow is the biggest thing, a lot of people overlook the filters,” he said.

Environment Canada is calling for a high of 24 C in Saskatoon Wednesday, with possible rain Thursday.

In Regina, the heat is expected to stick around Wednesday, with an expected high of 28 C before rain on Thursday and Friday.

Forecasts for both cities call for sunshine and highs hovering in the twenties over the Victoria Day long weekend.

— With files from 650 CKOM’s Daniella Ponticelli and 980 CJME’s Britton Gray.