Forecasters are calling for a heat wave to hit B.C. on the weekend which could lead to flooding in parts of the province.
Weather across the province has been much colder and wetter than this time last year when a heat wave pushed temperatures above 30 degrees.
The cool, wet weather has come with an upside as the Coastal Fire Centre has reported only six fires so far this year. This is down from the 59 reported at this time last year and below the 10-year average of 37.
The centre said that doesn’t necessarily mean we’re out of the woods.
“If the season gets hot and dry extends into September and October we may be looking at a busy fire season again so we never ever predict a slow or busy fire season simply because we can’t look that far out,” said Marg Drysdale, information officer with the Coastal Fire Centre.
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There is a change in the weather coming, with Environment Canada expected to issue a special weather statement on a coming heat wave that should start on the south coast as soon as Friday.
“Temperatures that are going to be you know five, six, seven degrees above seasonal values so this is certainly not an extreme heat emergency like the heat dome of late June 2021, but it is going to be the warmest temperature we have seen so far in 2022,” Armel Castellan, Environment and Climate Change Canada Meteorologist, said.
That sudden flick of the heat switch will turn up the dial on the snow melt which is just hitting its peak now, well behind schedule.
At this point large sections of B.C.’s interior and north are under high stream flow advisories, or flood watches. Although the B.C. River Forecast Centre said if this is heat had hit a couple of weeks ago, the province be even worse off since the snow pack has already had a couple of weeks to start melting.
“I think we’ve sort of benefited from that and I don’t know if we’ve quite dodged the bullet yet in that there’s definitely risks associated with this temperature, and with the rivers very full right now there’s not a lot of space to accommodate additional runoff,” said Dave Campbell with the B.C. River Forecast Centre.
While there isn’t a major flood concern on Vancouver Island, rivers and streams are expected to rise.
“You just want to be super careful because that water won’t only be super cold but it’s going to be flowing at a higher rate than it typically does this late in June,” said Castellan.
He added the back country avalanche risk will also go up and with sun at its highest point the UV rating will rise so people are encouraged to break out the sunscreen.
April Lawrence
