Locals look to cool down

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This article was published 03/06/2023 (1208 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Westman mom of a three-year-old daughter says she was hoping Brandon’s splash parks would be open to help “beat the heat,” but she and others will have to wait until next week, according to the city’s parks and recreation services.

Naomi Johnson spent part of Friday afternoon with her toddler Emily at Brandon’s Dinsdale Park playground, when the city was under a heat warning with the temperature at 30 C. With the humidity, it felt like 34 C.

Johnson said she’s looking forward to taking both her kids to paddle pools and spray parks as soon as they open, but hoped it won’t be the same as last year.

“Actually, last year when they opened, we went ahead with Emily and our other little girl who is in kindergarten now, but they only seemed to be open for school kids because when we got there, they’d say this is booked just for the school.”

The city has five free spray parks that are scheduled to open June 8; Rideau Park in the east end; Kin Park, which is on First Street south of Richmond Avenue; Stanley Park in the downtown core; Westridge, located in the city’s west end; as is the city’s newest spray park at Valleyview, on Whiller Drive.

The city’s outdoor pool, Kinsmen Pool, located in Rideau Park, will open June 15, with family swims on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and public swimming seven days a week.

So now, the priority is getting the employees in place, according to Perry Roque, director of parks and recreation services.

“We have to co-ordinate the staff because we don’t have them here, we’ll be using our summer staff that will come in,” said Roque. “They’ll most likely be scheduled to start on Monday … and then we’ll do all their safety orientation and get everybody up to speed so they can open up on the eighth.”

In preparation of the Kinsmen Pool opening for the season, crews with parks and recreation crews have been on site, draining the excess water, cleaning the inside and making repairs as needed, said the city worker Ryan Savage.

“The task for Friday was to drain the pool because the bottom was full of sediment,” said Savage. “And then we cleaned the sides and the edges.”

Crews also filled cracks and holes made by the extreme winter temperatures and painted the patches they made, which will have to cure over the weekend. But once that stage is complete, the test-fill is not far off said Savage.

“We could be test-filling it Tuesday or Wednesday of next week and have it ready for the 15th [on] opening day,” he said.

Savage added as soon as he and his crew arrived early Friday morning, a father and son were quick to inquire if the hoses they saw meant the pool was opening immediately, hoping for relief from the oppressive heat that has enveloped Westman.

Brandon is under a heat warning that’s expected to stay in place until the middle of next week, with temperatures hovering near 32 C, with the humidex reaching 38 C, said Natalie Hasell, a meteorologist with Environment Canada.

For this time of year, we should be seeing daytime temperatures of 21 C, with the overnight low of 9 C.

“So, the fact that we experienced 32 C on Friday, and looking at 18 C for Saturday morning tells us that we are at 10 degrees warmer than normal just for that one day, but it goes on for at least three days,” Hasell said.

“We are not breaking any records, but it has definitely been warm enough for us to issue the heat warning.”

Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, Ontario, and even parts of Quebec are all affected by the same source of warm air in the upper levels of the atmosphere that is coming from Texas, pushing in moist air from the Gulf of Mexico.

And because this weather pattern is not expected to change until the middle of next week, it met the criteria for Environment Canada to issue the heat warning.

“In order for us to issue a heat warning for southern Manitoba, the daytime high must reach 32 C, or a humidex value of 38 C or more, and the temperatures at night not falling below 16 degrees. And that has to happen at least two days in a row, which we believe it will.”

The long-range summer forecast, Hasell said, “is calling for above normal temperatures throughout June, July, and August.”

Back at the Kinsmen outdoor pool, where crews are working to get it ready for June 15, Savage said he likes the progress they’re making.

“I think we’re ahead of the curve right now.”

For more information on Brandon’s spray parks, paddle pool and cost of admission for Kinsmen Pool, visit brandon.ca/summer-recreation/spray-parks-paddle-pools

» mmcdougall@brandonsun.com

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