Severe thunderstorm watch issued Tuesday for the Okanagan, Shuswap

Environment Canada issued a severe thunderstorm watch for much of the Southern Interior on Tuesday.

Balmier weather left over from the weekend is forecast to take a turn mid-afternoon Tuesday, according to the hourly forecast from the national weather agency.

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“Conditions are favourable for the development of severe thunderstorms that may be capable of producing strong wind gusts, large hail and heavy rain,” reads the notice in regard to the Shuswap, Okanagan and Thompson areas.

The week ahead is supposed to bring more clouds, though temperatures are on track with seasonal norms.

Compared with a year ago, the conditions seem almost ideal. It was June 25 last year when the heat dome’s effects started to become known in the Okanagan.

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In Kelowna, the hottest day ever was recorded on June 29, when the temperature reached 45.6 C. The same day, the all-time Canadian record was set in Lytton, at 49.6 C.

The unprecedented weather had a deadly effect.

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Across B.C., 595 people, mostly seniors, died from extreme heat during a record-setting week of hot temperatures in late June and early July. Thirty-two of those people lived in the Okanagan, 12 of whom were in Kelowna.

Ninety-five per cent of those who succumbed to the heat died inside their own homes, the B.C. Coroners Service said in a report that was released last month.

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