It was a day made for air conditioning, short sleeves and ice cold drinks.
The colour of the leaves on some maple trees Aug. 21 may suggest that summer is winding down, but the sun was shining and the water was warm at Northwinds Beach in the Blue Mountains today.
Ken Barber says the week keeps getting better.
“This week has redeemed the summer to me,” says the Brampton resident. “I picked a good week to take vacation.”
Joe Rockman, meanwhile, brought his work to the beach to spend some extra time outdoors because the summer so far has not lived up to his expectations.
“It's been rather cool, even July didn't get up to normal seasonal temperature,” says the Craigleith resident. “But we are getting rewarded now, hopefully it will last.
Jim Samis works every day at Craigleith Windsports Centre renting out kayaks and paddle boards. He says the hotter the better for water sports, and this has been the busiest week of the summer.
“Calm winds, clear skies and warm weather,” he says. “Today is one of greatest days and the last couple of days have been great, so summer is really picking up for after a rough start.”
The temperature around southern Georgian Bay climbed above the 30C mark today for the first time this month and the heat is exactly what some crops need right now to help them ripen up.
Mark Grahlman grows everything from garlic to watermelons on his plot west of Meaford. He says it has been an excellent growing season for most vegetables but some plants need more heat than others.
“It will speed things up, it will speed up the corn, it will speed up the ripening of tomatoes, and the peppers will grow which they haven't been,” he says, adding cold weather crops like kale and peas could suffer. “But as long as you have a little bit of everything things tend to work out.”
Locally grown garlic, cucumbers, tomatoes and sweet corn will all be available at farmers’ markets this week.
