Heat wave shatters records, smothers Saskatchewan in warnings

Heat warnings are expected to blanket most of Saskatchewan for the next week according to Environment Canada.

The prolonged heat wave started in northern and west-central Saskatchewan over the weekend. As of Monday, the warning included over a dozen regions such as:

• Assiniboia, Gravelbourg, Coronach
• Lloydminster
• Saskatoon
• Fond-du-Lac, Stony Rapids
• Cree Lake, Key Lake
• Hudson Bay, Porcupine Plain
• Île à la Crosse, Buffalo Narrows, Beauval
• Kindersley, Rosetown, Biggar, Wilkie, Macklin
• La Loche, Clearwater River Prov. Park, Cluff Lake
• La Ronge, Prince Albert National Park, Narrow Hills Provincial Park
• Leader, Gull Lake
• Martensville, Warman, Rosthern, Delisle, Wakaw
• Meadow Lake, Big River, Green Lake, Pierceland
• Melfort, Tisdale, Nipawin, Carrot River
• Moose Jaw, Pense, Central Butte, Craik
• Outlook, Watrous, Hanley, Imperial, Dinsmore
• Pelican Narrows, Cumberland House, Creighton
• Prince Albert, Shellbrook, Spiritwood, Duck Lake
• Shaunavon, Maple Creek, Val Marie, Cypress Hills
• Southend, Brabant Lake, Kinoosao
• The Battlefords, Unity, Maidstone, St. Walburg
• Uranium City, Camsell Portage
• Yorkton, Melville, Esterhazy

The Regina and Moose Jaw region is not expected to be under a heat warning until Tuesday or Wednesday.

Heat warnings are issued when there is little or no reprieve from the warm temperatures during the normally cooler overnight period.

Young children, those who are pregnant, older adults and people with chronic illness are at a higher risk to feel the effects of extreme heat.

Meteorologist Chris Stammers says the same system that brought record-breaking heat to British Columbia is now being felt in Alberta and Saskatchewan.

“The heat warnings are going to be experienced pretty much provincewide,” Stammers said. “By the time it’s all said and done, even if you’re not quite meeting the criteria in some areas of the province it’s still going to be quite hot.

“We will stay near that 30-degree mark for what looks like the foreseeable future.”

Stammers says he doesn’t anticipate heat records to be toppled in Saskatchewan like they were further west as B.C. grapples with historically high temperatures.

The town of Lytton, roughly 260 kilometres northeast of Vancouver, set a new Canadian record after reaching 46.6 C on Sunday.

The previous record of 45 C had been set in Saskatchewan in 1937; both Midale and Yellow Grass reached that temperature 84 years ago.