‘It’s really setting out to be an extended period of warm, relatively dry conditions,’ said Environment Canada meteorologist Brian Proctor.
Soaring temperatures have blanketed Calgary with a heat warning that could last up to two weeks.
Environment Canada reinstated the heat warning on Monday, as temperatures were forecast to rise into the low 30 C range as a warm “upper ridge” became more established according to Environment Canada meteorologist Brian Proctor.
Upper ridges can be very stable features in the atmosphere that are difficult to move out, he said.
“It’s really establishing itself very nicely, so difficult to move, very slow to break down,” Proctor said. “Once they’re in place, they can sort of set up for an extended period of time.”
The warm upper ridge is coming out of the United States, from California, Arizona and Nevada; and building up sharply.
“We’ve seen some of those temperatures push up to (British Columbia) sort of approaching the 40 degree mark and portions of the southern B.C. interior,” Proctor said.
Although conditions in Alberta won’t be quite that extreme, he said they’ll still be “fairly significantly warm”.
Tuesday carries a risk of evening thunderstorms, with Wednesday and Thursday being mainly sunny and a mix of sun and cloud respectively.
From Friday onward conditions are expected to be sunny during the day and clear overnight.
The rest of this week has highs forecast in the low 30 C range, with overnight lows not dipping below 14 C.
Proctor says “typical” temperatures this time of year are daytime highs around 23 C and overnight lows of about 10 C.
“A real summertime pattern is setting up for much of the province, especially southern Alberta moving forward,” said Proctor. “It’s really setting out to be an extended period of warm, relatively dry conditions.”
More to come…