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Rocky View County is heading into yet another heat wave. Sarah Hoffman a Meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada defines this as two consecutive days with a temperature above 29 degrees with an overnight low of 14 degrees for the city of Airdrie.
As we head into a forecasted week-long heat wave Environment Canada has some recommendations to keep safe.
It is recommended that people located within the warning zones should consider refraining from doing outdoor activities until the temperatures cool, typically in the morning or evening. If you are going to be spending time outside take frequent breaks from the warm weather, spend time in cooled indoor areas when you can, stay hydrated; drink plenty of water, while avoiding alcoholic and caffeinated beverages, and do not leave any human or animal inside of a closed vehicle for any length of time.
Hoffman says to check in on elders and younger people and make sure they’re staying cool.
"The heat can be super dangerous."
This year's July was the 18th hottest summer on record for Canada over the last 139 years that Environment Canada has tracked the weather. The average temperature for the month of July over the past 139 years is 16 degrees Celsius. This year it was 18 degrees Celsius.
In the future, as the climate changes Hoffman states, “we expect more frequent and more intense heat waves to come in the future”.
Be on the lookout for heat stroke and heat exhaustion in yourself and others as you are out in the sun, you can learn more about them here.
Sadly, this winter is looking like another case of extreme weather as Hoffman explains the weather cycles.
Hoffman said that water just off the coast of South America can actually impact the weather of the entire world, with what is called La Niña and El Nino.
“La Niña winters tend to be cooler and wetter in Canada and during an El Nino we can expect a warmer than normal winter with less than normal precipitation”, Hoffman says.
“We’ve just had back-to-back years of La Niña which is an Enzo Southern Oscillation and there's a connection between the surface temperatures and weather patterns that leads to sort of large-scale changes in climate for lots of different parts of the world”.
Recently, reports have been coming out about the upcoming cold winter due to this phenomenon meaning that it looks like this winter will be a cold one.
The Farmers’ Almanac released its 2022-23 Winter Outlook it is asl predicts a cold winter, with January looking at –40 C in January.
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