Calgary weather: heat wave in the forecast this week

Have your sunscreen handy if you’re heading outside this week because Alberta is expected to get several days of extremely hot weather.

On Tuesday, Environment Canada issued a special weather statement for Calgary that warned of a heat wave from Wednesday until Friday, with daytime highs expected to range between 28 C to 35 C and overnight lows between 13 C to 18 C.

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Later Tuesday, the national weather agency dropped the special weather statement and issued a heat warning, with residents advised to take the following precautions to protect themselves:

• Consider rescheduling outdoor activities to cooler hours of the day
• Take frequent breaks from the heat, spending time in cooled indoor spaces where possible
• Drink plenty of water and other non-alcoholic, non-caffeinated beverages to stay hydrated
• Avoid leave children or pets alone inside vehicles for any length of time
• Monitor for symptoms of heat stroke or heat exhaustion, such as high body temperature, lack of sweat, confusion, fainting, and unconsciousness.

Heat warnings are issued when two or more days are expected with highs of at least 29 C and lows of at least 14 C and a change in temperature could pose an elevated risk of heat-related illnesses like heat stroke or heat exhaustion.

Could Calgary break a weather record this week?

Calgary is expecting daytime highs of over 30 C on both Wednesday and Thursday.

If the temperature is over 31.1 C on Wednesday or over 32.2 C on Thursday, it means the city will be breaking record highs recorded in 1970 and 1922, respectively.