Temperatures approaching 30 degrees Celsius are expected in Quebec as of Wednesday, without it being possible to speak of a “heat wave”, indicates Environment Canada. Elsewhere in the country, heat warnings and wildfires are already raging.
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
Quebec is relatively spared by the intense heat wave that is overwhelming western Europe, as well as part of the rest of the country.
This does not mean that the province is immune. “What will happen this week is that the humidity will increase,” explains Julie Deshaies, meteorologist for Environment Canada. Monday was rainy, but Tuesday we’re going to have good sunshine and the temperature will rise. Same thing Wednesday and it will continue Thursday. »
The highest temperatures are expected in the south of the province on Wednesday. The thermometer could reach 33°C in Montreal, according to Environment Canada forecasts, and the temperature could feel like 40 if we add the Humidex index.
An alternation of sun and rain, with temperatures “in the high twenties” and approaching 30 ° C, should continue for the rest of the week, specifies Mme Deshaies.
The high humidity could, for its part, ease on Saturday.
Not a heat wave
The temperatures expected this week are above seasonal norms, which are 26°C during the day and 16°C at night for Montreal, according to Julie Deshaies. “But it’s quite common to have this kind of episode at this time of the year,” she says.
Even if the temperature will be high, even stifling, it is not a heat wave, according to the criteria of the National Institute of Public Health of Quebec (INSPQ). ” [Pour décréter une vague de chaleur]we are talking about several days in a row with very, very hot days and nights, and with a lot of humidity, supports Mme Deshaies. For the moment, we have no message [en ce sens] for Quebec. »
The rise in the thermometer can still affect part of the population. From 35 of Humidex, even healthy people begin to feel discomfort, and even more people who have problems, details the meteorologist.
“And at 40 Humidex [comme ce sera le cas mercredi], everyone feels discomfort. »
A heat already present elsewhere in the country
Heat and severe thunderstorm warnings were in effect Monday for much of the rest of Canada, including all of Ontario, as well as northern Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
In British Columbia, an uncontrolled forest fire located 1.7 kilometers northwest of Lytton – a small town already devastated by the fires last summer – has burned 1,700 hectares since last Thursday.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY BRITISH COLUMBIA FIRE DEPARTMENTS, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Smoke rising over Stein Valley Nlaka’pamux Park near Lytton, British Columbia, on Sunday
In the region, evacuation orders have been issued for dozens of properties, while the Lytton First Nation has done the same for certain territories.
In addition, the flames this weekend chased about 65 residents of the community of Pukatawagan, in northern Manitoba.
The province said Friday that the wildfire, about two kilometers east of the community, covers about 10,000 hectares. The Manitoba Wildfire Service said at that time there were 39 active fires in the province.
In Quebec on Monday, the fire risk was high in the south, very high in parts of northern Abitibi-Témiscamingue, and extreme in Matagami and Waskaganish in the northwest of the province. A few forest fires caused by lightning were declared in Jamésie on Saturday, but were under control as of July 18.
With The Canadian Press