September is off to a sweltering start.
Summerside set heat records each of the first two days of this month with Charlottetown topping the all-time mark for Sept. 2.
The temperature climbed to a sizzling 32.7 C Wednesday in Summerside, beating the old Sept. 1 mark of 31.7 C dating back to 1942. On Thursday, Summerside surpassed by 1.5 C its previous hottest Sept. 2nd mark of 31.7 C in 1942 by heating up to 33.2 C.
Charlottetown came within half a degree of the 31.1 C record high for Sept. 1 set in 1942. On Thursday, the capital city just inched past the Sept. 2 heat mark of 30.6 C in 1942 by reaching 30.8 C.
Linda Libby, a meteorologist with Environment Canada, says the unseasonably hot temperatures are the result of tropical and sub-tropical air circulating through the Maritimes.
Josh Flanagan, a flagger with Island Construction, has been among the many workers sweltering outside as road construction continues fast and furious in Charlottetown.
"It's been very hot,'' he said, noting his heavy work boots, pants, helmet and reflective vest only add to the discomfort of working in high temperatures and under a scorching sun.
Flanagan, 21, of Charlottetown says time seems to go by much more slowly as a flagger with this week's extreme temperatures.
He says somewhere around 16 C is ideal temperature for his job. So the heat, with a humidex value hovering around 40 C on the Island over the past couple days, "is a little hot''.
