How to beat the heat? Ask a Hatter

How to beat the heat? Ask a Hatter

Environment Canada data appears to back up the local adage that it is always a few degrees warmer in the Hat

It's so hot in Medicine Hat, Alta., that beat cops slip ice packs into their body armour, and even the mayor observes the local practice of drawing heavy drapes from dawn 'til dusk.

Highs in the mid-thirties are predicted for this week's Stampede, but many Hatters told CBC News they are managing what they see as typical late-July weather.

"I've lived here all my life and experience it every year at Stampede week," said Jim Hall, a retired city worker who managed campgrounds in the summer and drove Zambonis each winter. "It's hot, it's dry and it's dusty every year."

That could be said of a lot of Alberta communities with rodeo weekends, but long-term data from Environment Canada appears to back up the local adage that it is often a few degrees warmer in Medicine Hat.

Subscribe to the Medicine Hat Weekly newsletter

"It's hot at Stampede Week," Mayor Linnsie Clark said at a pancake breakfast to open the fair held in the fourth week of July every year.

Heat warnings are in place across southern Alberta, typically issued when highs go above 30 C for two days coupled with lows of 14 C — a level that doesn't provide substantial overnight cooling.

In southeast Alberta, however, Environment Canada uses the steeper criteria of 33 C highs and 16 C lows to maintain the warning's effectiveness with Hatters, said meteorologist Janelle Gergely.

"If we were alerting on 30 C, you might have an alert for most of the month of July and August," she said.

Medicine Hat's mean maximum temperature in July sits at 29.8 C in records gathered from 1991 to 2020. It's two full degrees hotter than Brooks and Drumheller — known for their badlands and hot climate — and five full degrees hotter than Calgary.

There are several reasons why, Gergely said.

Heat warnings issued for most of southern, east-central Alberta

Medicine Hat is one of the sunniest cities in Canada and has relatively less vegetation on dry, grassland prairie to absorb solar radiation. Instead, the air heats up, and that's compounded by the distance and elevation change going west to east from the mountains.

"The farther you go away, you get a warming effect … air descends, and compressed air warms," Gergely said.

"It's the same thing that brings us chinooks in the winter, but it can help build heat in the summer."

That leads to higher maximum temperatures and longer spells of extreme heat in the region, extending into southwest Saskatchewan.

Almost half of Medicine Hat Stampede event days since 2016 have seen highs above 30 C, including 38 C to open the 2024 exhibition.

At that temperature, health authorities recommend drinking plenty of water and delaying outside activity until cooler evenings, but that's not possible for everyone.

Sgt. Brian Bohrn leads the city's downtown foot patrol police unit, and said 30-degree heat is taxing, but managed with added breaks and an alternate uniform made of breathable material, much like workout gear.

"But body armour, that doesn't breathe so well; it traps heat against your body," said Bohrn, whose team walks the exhibition grounds as well as patrols downtown areas.

"During breaks we jam ice packs down between our vests and bodies to help cool us down. One of our members told me he goes out on the street like that to stay cool."

On the Stampede grounds, Hatters said they manage their time in the sun, try to eat meals in a tree-lined picnic village and seek shelter in an air conditioned pavilion where garden and farm produce is judged.

Off the grounds, it's not uncommon for Hatters to sleep in cooler basements, and in the day close windows and blinds, opening up their houses at sunset.

"If you can get a good cross-breeze going to cool your house off, it's a good start," said Clark, who also recommends an ice pack on the back of the neck and a hand-held battery powered fan.

The city-owned power company told CBC that unlike many other Alberta cities, Medicine Hat's power demand rises steeply in the summer — about 20 per cent.

More stories from Southern Alberta

The hot dry climate was noted by the first European explorers to the region.

Retired Medicine Hat museum director Donny White co-wrote a local history book titled The Weather Factory, which included facets of early city efforts to boost its profile as the warm weather centre of Canada.

He said this week that over time, the heat has become part of how Hatters view themselves.

"When you think about ranchers out throwing hay bales in this heat, I guess that's part of the identity," he told CBC News.

"But that's the Canadian identity in many ways. We're hardy."

Collin Gallant is a journalist with the CBC's bureau in Medicine Hat, Alta., covering a wide array of topics in southeast Alberta. Reach him by email at collin.gallant@cbc.ca