B.C. told to brace for heat wave starting this weekend

An Environment Canada meteorologist says British Columbians should brace for an upcoming heat wave that's expected to send temperatures into the high 30s and beyond in the southern Interior.

Warning preparedness meteorologist Armel Castellan says the heat will start on Vancouver Island and move east across the province, hitting the Interior over the latter part of the weekend.

The forecast for Kamloops shows daytime highs of 40 C next Monday and Tuesday, which would be enough to trigger a heat warning.

Castellan says that as a ridge of high pressure moves across B.C., the high temperatures and clear, sunny days are likely to raise the wildfire risk.

He says temperatures could begin cooling by next Wednesday, but as the ridge moves on to the Prairies, there will be the potential for dry lightning in B.C. as the province heads into what is typically the hottest, driest stretch of summer.

Castellan says the difference between the upcoming heat wave and the deadly heat dome that killed more than 600 people in the summer of 2021 is that temperatures next week aren't expected to surpass heat-warning criteria by such large margins.

"It's a long-duration event, there's no doubt about that," he said of the forecast.

"But the impact on human health isn't as extreme as when the temperatures get into this 45 (Celsius) and beyond degrees, particularly for the hottest places in the southwest Interior," he said in an interview on Wednesday.

The BC Coroners Service said there were 619 heat-related deaths during B.C.'s 2021 heat-dome event, when temperatures soared above 40 C in many communities from June 25 to July 1.

A wildfire that killed two people on June 30, 2021, in the Fraser Canyon community of Lytton occurred a day after the village of about 200 people experienced Canada's hottest recorded temperature of 49.6 C.