It felt like it was 40 degrees in Fredericton Tuesday as a heat wave that was expected for the long weekend arrived in full force.

It was another good day to be either near or in the water. And with the heat wave kicking it up, the only place more popular than the beach today was the shade.

“I can't go outside some of the times at daycare because it gets too hot,” says Anna O'Donnell.

One Fredericton daycare put that rule into effect Tuesday.

“Can't go outside if it’s over 30, with the humidex or without it,” said daycare director Rachel Leblanc.

“So, it cancels fields trips, which the kiddos are quite upset about. We just try to get out really early in the morning before the heat really hits.”

Others who were vulnerable to the heat were people who had to work in it today, either in the air or on the ground, as well as people who do not have a home of their own.

The Fredericton Homeless Shelters encourage their clientele to stay out of the heat.

“We are open 23 hours a day so they are able to come in,” said Warren Maddox of Fredericton Homeless Shelters.“Some of our older clientele, they stay fairly close to the building and it’s a brick and concrete building, so when it cools down at night it stays fairly cool during the day.”

While a bit of relief is on the way, the heat will be sticking around, meaning that staying cool will remain a top priority.

At Melmerby Beach near New Glasgow, N.S., lifeguards were staying hydrated and occasionally reminding people to apply sunscreen.

On a day like Tuesday, their eyes are on the water, and the shore, says Colin MacIntosh, a lifeguard at Melmerby.

“You have to watch out for how people are dealing with the sun. Like if somebody looks really sunburned, we’ll come over and just mention it,” he said. “Maybe they don't know, because often you can forget to put sunscreen on because you do need to apply it every two hours and a lot of people forget that. So you can notice people are getting quite burned.”

The heat and humidity will continue throughout the remainder of the week, but Tuesday was expected to be the worst of it.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Nick Moore and Dan MacIntosh.