An unusual heat wave for May that sent temperatures 10 to 15 degrees above normal in parts of Western Canada should be taken as a warning to prepare for dangerous heat waves outside the normal summer period, according to researchers.
Unusually high temperatures that began on Friday persist across British Columbia and Alberta this week, increasing the risk of wildfires and flooding, triggering heat warnings and forcing thousands from their homes.
Although the current temperature is not as severe as the heat dome that killed hundreds of people in June 2021 in British Columbia, scientists say such prolonged high temperatures in May are highly unusual, and the Western Canada will likely experience more such heat waves in the years to come.
Joseph Shea, associate professor of environmental geomatics at the University of Northern British Columbia, says residents of western Canada “must adapt to a warmer future.”
He said the region would have faced a “similar heat dome situation” if the weather phenomenon causing the temperature spike had occurred in June or July.
Environment Canada has issued a heat warning for most of the northern half of Alberta, starting just north of Edmonton, covering communities from Grande Prairie and High Level to Fort McMurray and Cold Lake.
A warning has also been issued for the North Coast of British Columbia, including the towns of Kitimat and Terrace, with forecasts of high temperatures extending into the upcoming long weekend.
Environment Canada’s warning says a warm air plume will remain in place over parts of British Columbia through Thursday, bringing high temperatures to near 30C and lows during the overnight at 15°C.
Much of the rest of the coastal and interior regions of the province remain subject to special weather bulletins due to a heat wave that pushed temperatures to over 30°C in many locations over the past the weekend.
Several areas broke temperature records, including Agassiz, which hit 31.6°C, and Fort Nelson, which hit 28.1°C.
Evacuations
The effects of the heat wave began to be felt seriously on Monday, when the City of Fort St. John, in northeastern British Columbia, asked its approximately 21,000 residents to prepare to leave their home due to a wildfire that has spread over 130 square kilometers.
The evacuation alert indicates that all residents should prepare to leave quickly due to the potential danger the fire poses to life and health.
The province’s wildfire department lists the Stoddart Creek fire as one of five significant wildfires in the province, all near the Alberta border, three of which are out of control.
A First Nations reserve and a neighboring municipality in the southern Northwest Territories have also been ordered to evacuate.
All these new evacuations are in addition to those already raging in Alberta, where nearly 20,000 people have had to flee their homes due to forest fires that have been accumulating for a week.
Heat waves get less attention
Assistant Professor at Simon Fraser University’s School of Resource and Environmental Management Andreanne Doyon recalls that “we are not supposed to have 10 to 15 degrees above average heat in May”.
“We know things like heat waves are going to be more frequent, they’re going to be more severe, and they’re going to happen at times of the year that they weren’t before,” she continues.
Professor Doyon says she is particularly concerned about urban centers like Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton, where infrastructure such as pavement and concrete absorbs more heat than foliage and natural landscapes.
“Heat waves are sometimes called the deadliest natural disasters […]because they’re something that people don’t pay much attention to,” she says.
“With the wildfires currently being experienced in British Columbia and Alberta, the photos are extreme, and it is truly tragic that we have not been able to communicate the severity of the heat waves in the same way and of their impact.
British Columbia’s interior has been particularly hard hit by flooding and fires this spring, including the village of Cache Creek, where flooding earlier this month forced people from their homes and damaged highways.
Cache Creek Mayor John Ranta says the provincial government has started work on a section of Highway 97 that was washed away by flooding, but he’s unsure if bringing that area back into the its pre-flood condition will be sufficient to solve future flood problems.
He added that Cache Creek has been flooded four out of the last five years and some sort of permanent solution is needed.
“I don’t know exactly what it is. People talked about a bridge, people talked about forgetting the bridge and leaving a channel there for the river to pass and not use that road anymore, those kinds of ideas,” he said. He specifies.
The city plans to start collecting donations for flood-affected people who couldn’t afford expensive flood insurance.