There were 43 active wildfires burning throughout the province as of Monday morning.
Environment Canada has issued heat and air quality warnings throughout Saskatchewan as temperatures are set to exceed 30 C in the coming days.
“This warm spell is likely to linger into next week, particularly across southern B.C. and the Prairie provinces, though it’s a bit early to offer a high confidence forecast this far into the future,” Jennifer Smith, a national warning preparedness meteorologist with Environment Canada, said during a virtual press conference Monday.
The province is expected to see its highest temperatures toward the end of the week, with Environment Canada forecasting a high of 34 C in Regina on Thursday. Saskatchewan and Manitoba are also noted to be particularly humid during this time.
“It is likely not to be the humid conditions that were experienced in the east a couple of weeks ago during that big heat wave, but certainly muggy for the prairies,” said Smith, who added that a significant factor in humidity during this time of year is the number of blooming crops that add moisture to the environment.
“So you’ve go a muggy air mass that’s moving in and you’ve got additional moisture from vegetation as well contributing to a muggier environment.”
However, the highest temperatures being forecast this week remain lower than the heat wave that cooked Saskatchewan at this time in 2021.
For example, the northern community of Stony Rapids reached a record-breaking temperature of 38.5 C on July 1, 2021.
“It is important to note that while this heat event is significant and impactful, particularly for its projected duration, it is not the same as the 2021 heat event,” said Smith, who added that heat-warning thresholds were met and then surpassed by an “enormous margin” that summer, setting all-time records in several communities.
“That was truly an anomalous and extreme heat wave.”
With temperatures rising, the risk of wildfires also increases. On Monday, most of Saskatchewan saw an Air Quality Health Index (AQHI) warning as smoke from over 40 wildfires in the province hazed provincial skies.
Smoke is also blowing southeast into the province from Alberta, British Columbia and the Northwest Territories, where there are 61, 97 and 53 active wildfires, respectively.
Environment Canada says the smoke plume will persist in Saskatchewan for at least the next couple of days.
An air quality advisory was issued for northern Saskatchewan as the AQHI exceeded 10 (7-10 is considered high risk and 10+ is very high risk). The rest of the province was sitting around eight or nine on the index.
As of Monday morning, there were 43 active wildfires burning in the province. Six were categorized as not contained, eight were contained, 25 were subject to ongoing assessment, and four were grouped as protecting property.
Many of the active fires were started within the last few days due to lightning from recent thunderstorms. As the warm air moves in, more lightning is anticipated.