Montrealers took advantage of the last terraces still open this year while a new heat record was reached on Tuesday in greater Montreal, and before cooler weather sets in at the end of the week.
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“This week is truly the perfect week. It’s super hot and beautiful, so we’re really taking advantage of it because next week, I think we’re going to be cold” underlines Caroline Robin, a French woman newly settled in Montreal, met on a terrace on avenue du Mont-Royal .
Caroline Robin enjoys the heat before the cold returns on a terrace on Mont-Royal Avenue in Montreal.
Photo Marianne Langlois
The streak of good weather and heat continues with temperatures well above seasonal norms. On Tuesday, mercuries exceeding 26 degrees were recorded in different sectors of Quebec, including greater Montreal, Trois-Rivières, Shawinigan and Repentigny.
“We are breaking a record in several places […] today, tomorrow and even the day after tomorrow, we are at the peak of this hot and humid period,” observes Simon Legault, meteorologist at Environment Canada, who points out that the mercury reached 30.1 degrees Celsius at the airport. Maniwaki. The last time the mercury was this high on October 3 was in 1937, reports Environment Canada.
In several neighborhoods of Montreal, including Plateau Mont-Royal, many people used the heat as an excuse to enjoy the last beautiful terrace days of the season.
“We’re taking advantage of it, the weather is really nice and I really like the concept of terraces, we want to spend time outside,” mentions with a smile Graziella Rizzardi visiting Montreal to spend time with her daughter .
Graziella Rizzardi, her daughter Natassja Milak and her brother Jean-Michel Rizzardi enjoyed the terrace of this restaurant on Avenue du Mont-Royal on Tuesday afternoon.
Photo Marianne Langlois
Just a few weeks before midterms, university students were taking a break in the sun between classes.
“I have a class later, but it doesn’t make me want to study all this good weather […] We take the opportunity to see each other and spend time together,” underlines Gabrielle Tessier, student at the University of Montreal.
Élodie Boudreault, Gabrielle Tessier and Sarah Girard, all three students had a bite to eat under the sun on Tuesday.
Photo Marianne Langlois
The good weather is also a delight for restaurateurs and their staff who see their terraces as busy as during the hot summer periods.
“The terrace brings customers, people want to be outside and want to enjoy the good weather,” explains Halima Madin, waitress at Sham on Mont-Royal, who emphasizes that the terrace is currently as popular as during the ‘summer.
“We benefit from it, like everyone else, but we cannot deny climate change. We feel that it’s not normal,” insists Jane Barr, met in the middle of the afternoon while having lunch with a friend.
Jane Barr and Janice Astbury take advantage of the good weather to dine on a terrace.
Photo Marianne Langlois
Environment Canada specifies that such temperatures “are not normal” for this time of year, but that a return to cooler temperatures is expected at the end of the week.