Flowers in the Northwest, right on time about a week after Mission.
I used to regularly travel regularly between, Mission, Capitol Hill, and Edgemont, and every spring without fail, you could see the differences of the three neighborhoods. Lilacs, tree buds and leaves, flowers, you name it, it was always the same. Mission was usually about a week-10 days ahead of Capitol Hill, and Capitol Hill was a week-10 days ahead of Edgemont.
That and most of Calgary's inner city is located in a river valley which helps retain moisture from the rivers which I imagine contributes to the heat island effectI would expect the urban heat island effect to be more pronounced in Calgary than in other cities as the natural environment of high attitude, dry plains has poor ability to retain heat. The inner city would be more pronounced due to more tree cover and great building density.
I noticed the same effect in Edmonton: the area around U of A seemed about 2 weeks ahead in the Spring and 2 weeks behind the rest of the city in the Fall. Even in the Summer, driving at night from U of A / Garneau / Old Strathcona towards the outer suburbs with the windows down would produce a noticeable drop of in temperature. Other high and/or dry cities seem to produce similar drop off in heat island effect from inner city to the outer burbs: Vegas, Phoenix, Denver, Salt Lake.
Bang on about the heat being retained later in the evenings. So many times I've been driving around Mission or Beltline on a summer night, and you can literally feel the temp drop when head over to the north side of downtown. It stays steady through Kensington and then drops again when you head up the hill by SAIT.I would expect the urban heat island effect to be more pronounced in Calgary than in other cities as the natural environment of high attitude, dry plains has poor ability to retain heat. The inner city would be more pronounced due to more tree cover and great building density.
I noticed the same effect in Edmonton: the area around U of A seemed about 2 weeks ahead in the Spring and 2 weeks behind the rest of the city in the Fall. Even in the Summer, driving at night from U of A / Garneau / Old Strathcona towards the outer suburbs with the windows down would produce a noticeable drop of in temperature. Other high and/or dry cities seem to produce similar drop off in heat island effect from inner city to the outer burbs: Vegas, Phoenix, Denver, Salt Lake.
Unsure if the rivers would do much given their dimunitive size and glacial temperatures. I can remember many times riding my bike at night and feeling a chill in close proximity to any of the rivers. That could be due to cold air being denser.That and most of Calgary's inner city is located in a river valley which helps retain moisture from the rivers which I imagine contributes to the heat island effect