Heat cautions issued for Kamloops, Okanagan but heat dome unlikely

Environment Canada has issued special weather statements today, June 22, advising of temperatures reaching the low 30s this weekend.

The statements cover the Okanagan and South Thompson areas of the province.

“The B.C. Interior will experience its first stretch of warmer than average temperatures beginning this weekend,” it says. “On Saturday, temperatures will reach into the upper 20s. For the remainder of the weekend and early next week, temperatures will rise into the low to mid 30s. Overnight lows will fall to the mid-teens.”

The higher temperatures increase the risk of heart-related illness, it cautions.

Freezing levels will also rise so there will be increased snowmelt that could trigger higher stream flows, it says.

Flood watches remain in effect for the North and South Thompson rivers along with a high streamflow advisory for Kelowna’s Mission Creek.

The Environment Canada online forecast shows a high of 33 C in Kamloops and the Okanagan on Monday.

Before then, there’s a 30% chance of showers in the Okanagan today with a high of 23 C. There’s a chance of showers Thursday but a cold low pressure front will drop Thursday’s high temperature to about 14 C.

Kamloops has a 60% chance of showers and thundershowers today with a high of 24 C. There’s a 40% chance of showers Thursday with a high temperature forecast of 18 C.

While this is the first hot weather of the year and is happening about the same time as the heat dome hit B.C. last year, the forecast doesn’t show it lasting. There’s a 60% chance of showers on Tuesday with highs of 26 C in Kamloops and the Okanagan.

READ MORE: 57 heat dome fatalities in Thompson-Okanagan

Last year, the temperatures rose above 30 C through most of the region on June 21 and stayed above 30 C through most of July.

June 29 was when the heat dome peaked at 48.6 C in Lytton, setting a new Canadian record. That town was 90% destroyed be a wildfire the next day.

Kamloops reached a record high temperature of 47.3 C on June 29, the same day as Kelowna set its record at 45.7 C and Vernon got to 44.2 C. Penticton’s hottest day, also at 44.2 C, came a day later.

The summer of 2021 was the worst on record for wildfires in the Kamloops Forest District with almost 500,000 hectares burned.

READ MORE: Kamloops Fire Centre sees record-breaking number of hectares burned this year

That included the White Rock Lake Fire that destroyed 78 homes on the west side of Okanagan Lake, mostly in the Ewings Landing and Killiney Beach area. It burned another 29 homes in Monte Lake.

So far this year, there have been 57 wildfires that burned 94 hectares in the Kamloops Fire District.

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