Emma Levez
Northern News Services

NNSL (Jul 10/98) - July is always the hottest month of the summer in Yellowknife, but this year the temperatures have been significantly above normal, according to Andrew Lancaster, meteorologist at the Arctic Weather Centre in Edmonton.

The hottest day ever on record in Yellowknife was July 16, 1989, when the temperature reached 33 C, and this year we've come close to that.

Normal temperatures for this time of year are low 20s, but on Wednesday the temperature reached 31 C, making it the hottest day of 1998 so far.

Yellowknifers reacted swiftly. Canadian Tire and Home Hardware were completely sold out of air conditioning units by Monday.

"Monday was incredible," said Pat Winters, one of the owners of Home Hardware. "We had just had a new load of air conditioners in and by the end of the day we were sold out."

Winters said they're selling more air conditioners (which start at $500) this year than ever. "And we're also selling a whole lot of fans."

Wal-Mart doesn't carry air conditioners, but now they don't even have fans either. "We sold out of fans over the weekend," said assistant manager, Scott Vass. There has also been an increased demand at Wal-Mart for sprinklers and kids' pools.

Altogether, Jan Lavertu, manager of Canadian Tire, estimated that more than 300 fans were sold out of his store over the weekend. "Everybody's in a mad dash for fans," he said Wednesday. "It's not even a concern with how much (they cost). People just need to cool down."

It's not only fans customers are after from Canadian Tire. "People are buying anything," exclaimed Lavertu, "Paddling pools for kids, patio umbrellas -- anything, just to get out of the heat. We've been selling a lot more pop too!"

The beach at Long Lake has been busy as people flock to the water in another attempt to deal with the heat. Adam Sammers insists that there is not enough he can do to avoid the heat.

"I'm living in a trailer, and it got up to 35 C in there yesterday!" he exclaimed. "I've been sleeping on the balcony on an air-mattress ... it's hard to complain about it, but it gets to a certain point where it's too much."

The summer heat will not disappear altogether, but Lancaster says "it looks as if things are gradually going to cool off towards the weekend."

Temperatures will still be warm, but they'll be back to the low 20s that are usual for this time of year.