Consider rescheduling outdoor activities, take frequent breaks if you can’t, drink plenty of water and keep an eye on children, seniors and pets for any signs of heat stroke or exhaustion.
That’s some of the advice that Environment and Climate Change Canada is offering to Albertans as temperatures across the province are expected to sizzle over the next few days.
The hot weather has prompted the national weather agency to issue a heat warning for most of Alberta, with the exception of the Rocky Mountains and the extreme southern part of the province.
Daytime highs are forecast to be around 30 C on Wednesday and Thursday — that’s about 10 C above normal for this time of year — before cooling off slightly on Friday, but increasing again on Saturday.
Overnight lows are also forecast to be about 10 C above normal.
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“We’re seeing overnight lows above 14 degrees,” explains Environment Canada Meteorologist, Alysa Pederson. “Fifteen C to 17 C is what’s in the forecast — and that means we have these hot days and people are also unable cool off between those days. That’s why we issue heat warnings, it’s more of a safety perspective.”
The soaring temperatures, combined with a cold front that’s expected to pass through Alberta overnight on Thursday, are also increasing the wildfire danger.
“Typically this time of year is when we start to see these thunderstorm events as we get systems moving through with heat, followed by cold fronts,” said Pederson.
“Alberta Wildfire has issued a red flag watch for tomorrow, and a big part of that is just because we have the heat and the dry conditions, but also our relative humidity, our moisture is still pretty low, which means that we can get wildfires triggering a little bit easier,” added Pederson. “Thunderstorm activity can trigger wildfires.”
“With severe thunderstorms, there’s always a risk of getting something like a tornado out of it. At this point, though, it’s not really looking like a big tornado day — it’s looking more like a wind event and with some hail expected.”
There are currently about 40 wildfires burning in Alberta with three “wildfires of note,” including the Edith Lake fire about eight kilometres north of the town of Swan Hills and has forced the evacuation of 1,200 area residents.
The latest details on all the wildfires burning in Alberta are available online at alberta.ca/wildfire.
Less than a week after a fire advisory was lifted for west Rocky View County, on Wednesday morning the county again put a ban in place, with certain exceptions.
Details on all the burning bans and restrictions in place across Alberta are available online at albertafirebans.ca.
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