It's a scorching Monday afternoon when close to 25 people line up inside the Dairy Queen in downtown Whitehorse.

As they wait, two girls wearing bathing suits make plans for how they'll deal with the plus-30 C heat for the afternoon.

The plan: they'll get their goodies at the DQ, then it's on up the road for a stroll down Main Street, where they'll stop in to the Hougen Centre for a cold milkshake. They'll then be off to Rotary Peace Park, but by the time they hit Riverside Grocery, their cold milkshakes will be gone so they'll have to stop by the store for a malt.

It seems many Yukoners are making plans which revolve around cooling down in the record-hot temperatures of late.

Whitehorse residents are doing everything from buying up all the simple above-ground pools at Canadian Tire to contend with the heat to jumping off the Robert Campbell Bridge into the Yukon River to cool down.

They're also making sure they order so many iced cappuccinos that often the machine doesn't have enough time to freeze the slushie-like coffee drink before the next customer is asking for the beverage.

'It's almost too good,' Charlette Aube, assistant manager at the Tim Hortons at Second Avenue near Main Street, said Monday afternoon of the business her store is getting.

While the coffee shop is selling a lot of its iced cappuccinos, the staff also had to tell some customers they'd have to wait 10 minutes for the ingredients to freeze before they could hand out more of the icy goods.

'It's been doing this all afternoon,' Aube said of the machine used to mix the iced cappuccinos.

At the city's other Tim Hortons outlet, customers there were also told they would have to wait a while for their iced cappuccinos.

Others are likely enjoying stronger drinks as the summer heat wears on.

This morning, Bruce Demchuck, the Yukon Liquor Corporation's acting vice-president, said he didn't have the numbers to confirm more beer, ciders and other cold alcoholic drinks are being sold in response to the heat. Historically, however, sales of cold drinks increase as the temperature rises.

This week, the Whitehorse liquor store made a big purchase in response to the toasty weather.

'It usually is that kind of thing,' Demchuck said.

Another way Whitehorse residents are dealing with the heat is by taking to the water. The Yukon River has served as somewhat of a playground for children and adults escaping the sweltering heat. While some stick close to the shore, others have been jumping off the Robert Campbell Bridge, despite the undertow warning signs. There are also lakes around town many have been swimming in.

Still others prefer to stay close to home.

At Canadian Tire Monday afternoon, manager Craig Rogers was waiting to get more of the simple above-ground plastic pools that have been springing up in numerous back yards.

The pools are usually about waist-deep for many adults.

'Anything to do with swimming is selling,' he said, noting there's also been a run on fans.

With fans in town sold out at most stores, adults have been buying the smaller children's fans at the Your Dollar With More store, owner Dayle Robertson said Monday.

'We're selling more water toys,' she said, noting barbecue items are also a big seller lately.

One of the most popular items are squirt guns.

There's no way of gauging whether residents are making use of air conditioners, fans or other such appliances to cool down in the heat. However, energy use in the territory went up three per cent last Friday through Sunday compared to the same time period last year, said Yukon Energy spokeswoman Janet Patterson.

She said she knows of one person who couldn't find a fan after shopping around from store to store.

A number of people also had issues finding ice last weekend.

At Herbie's, co-owner Dee Balsam said she returned to work on Monday, after going to Faro during the weekend, to find the store sold out of bags of ice.

'We had 50 bags when we left on Friday,' she said.

More were available by Saturday, but they also sold out.

'It's been great,' Balsam said of the warm weather.

On Monday afternoon, she was looking forward to the supply truck arriving Tuesday.

Medium slushie cups were sold out and her supply of novelty ice cream treats was also dwindling.

Her customers seem to be enjoying the weather, although most wish they were on holidays to take in more of the sun. Some want to stay in the air conditioned store a little longer, Balsam said.

'They all want to pull up a lawn chair,' she said.

Even at city council meetings, the discussion is turning to the heat.

On Monday night, Mayor Ernie Bourassa reminded Whitehorse residents of a no-burn order and just how easily a fire can get out of hand after there was a brush blaze near the clay cliffs earlier in the day.

Firefighters managed to put the fire out, but Bourassa noted with the hot temperatures, it could have easily been more dangerous.

Later, when council was discussing the work done to provide closed captioning of council meeting telecasts, Coun. Dave Austin jokingly suggested the city could now work on providing a better cooling system in council chambers.

The city had a few fans operating in the room, but it doesn't have air conditioning.

The hot temperatures are expected to remain for the next week.