Blistering heat in store for B.C.'s Interior this weekend

VANCOUVER — Environment Canada says unseasonably hot weather in British Columbia's Okanagan, Thompson, and Boundary regions will push temperatures into the mid 30s into the weekend.

Environment Canada issued heat warnings Friday covering portions of the province's Interior, saying the hot weather was expected to persist through to Sunday.

The agency says daytime temperatures are expected to reach 38 Celsius in the Boundary region, while temperatures in the south and central Okanagan, south and north Thompson, and Fraser Canyon regions will reach up to 36 Celsius.

The latest heatwave has broken records in parts of the province, including a 38.2 Celsius temperature in Nelson on Thursday, surpassing the last high from 1938, while records were also set in McKenzie, Nakusp, Richmond and Smithers.

WorkSafeBC says the warnings should be a wake-up call to employers as it's been dealing with increasing claims related to heat from people who work both indoors and outside, including farm workers, kitchen employees and construction workers.

WorkSafe, the provincial worker's health and safety agency, says in an advisory that heat stress-related injuries have been on the rise in the last few years, averaging 41 claims between 2018 and 2020, rising to a peak of 115 claims related to the heat dome event in 2021.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 21, 2022.