Environment Canada says extreme heat continues in Ontario and Quebec

MONTREAL — An oppressive heat wave continued to blanket central and southern Ontario, southern Quebec and much of the Maritimes on Wednesday, with daytime highs reaching 30C to 35C — above 40C with the humidex — and officials warning of dangers to such an extreme. the temperatures.

The hot weather was expected to continue into Friday, Environment Canada says, with overnight temperatures remaining in the high 20s.

Jennifer Smith, a national warning preparedness meteorologist at the federal department, said such an intense heat wave was “rarely seen in early June” and rivaled some of the worst heat waves on record. has seen Eastern Canada in recent years.

High humidity and relatively high overnight temperatures make this week’s weather particularly grueling, Smith said Wednesday during a federal government news conference. “People can’t cool down for a long time,” she said. “It’s going to be a muggy and hot few days for eastern Canada.”

She said the heat wave has already broken some temperature records and more could fall. Environment Canada scientists will do a quick analysis of the heat wave once it’s over to figure out how much it was influenced by human-caused climate change. The results, part of the agency’s new fast-track award project, are expected by the end of next week.

Toronto and Ottawa both have extended hours at certain outdoor pools through Thursday. In Montreal, air-conditioned public buildings, including libraries and cultural centers, are also open longer than usual.

On Wednesday afternoon, volunteers from Toronto non-profit Project FoodChain delivered water to people experiencing homelessness on the city’s west side. The group says it plans to deliver 230,000 bottles of water to Toronto and neighboring Peel Region.

FoodChain Project spokeswoman Kate Hanley said with extreme heat episodes becoming more frequent, providing drinking water to homeless people had become “a medical emergency”.

“If you can’t get inside and you have some water, you have a much better chance of survival,” she said.

Early-season heat waves can be more dangerous because people aren’t as acclimated as they might be later in the summer, said Peter Berry, Health Canada’s senior policy analyst and science adviser. “When something like this happens, it’s so fast and so intense, it can be a problem because of that,” he said during the federal news conference.

The Quebec Department of Health recommends that people spend at least two hours a day in an air-conditioned space, take at least one cold shower or bath a day and limit physical activity. Environment Canada is also reminding people to check on their loved ones, especially those who are disabled, mentally ill or living alone.

The heat wave extended to parts of Quebec that have rarely seen such high temperatures this time of year, including Rimouski in the province’s Bas-St-Laurent region, where the average daily June high is 21 C. The city was expected with approximately 50,000 inhabitants. to reach 32 C on Wednesday.

Spokesman Frédéric Savard said the city’s outdoor pools will open earlier than usual this year, but not yet before this weekend. “This heat is exceptional for Rimouski,” he said. “These are temperatures we typically see in July or August.”

Meanwhile, a new study by Quebec’s national research center, analyzing data up to 2019, estimates that high temperatures in Quebec are associated with an average of 470 deaths and 225 hospitalizations each summer. “I think this really makes a strong case to say that we need to put in place measures to reduce this burden, which is going to get bigger and bigger,” said the study’s lead author, Jérémie Boudreault of the Institut national de la recherche. scientific.

Also Wednesday, the Quebec Order of Chemists expressed dismay at a new trend of social media influencers claiming that sunscreen ingredients are harmful to the skin. It says such “scientifically unfounded” claims could endanger public health.

Michel Alsayegh, president of the order of chemists, says that sunscreens are designed to protect the skin from the harmful effects of the sun’s ultraviolet (UV) rays and that scientific research demonstrates the effectiveness and safety of these products when used properly.

“It is worrying to see pseudo-experts inciting the public to forego sun protection, thereby increasing the risk of skin cancer and other UV damage,” he said.

In New Brunswick, which was under a heat warning with temperatures expected to reach 30-35C, Laura-Maia Wright of Fredericton spent the morning kayaking at Angelview Park.

“I was wondering why there weren’t more people in the water,” she said. “It was so good. Because it makes you feel cooler, because you’re by the water, but it reflects the sun more so you can burn more easily.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on June 19, 2024.

— With files from Jordan Omstead and Sheila Reid in Toronto, Jean-Benoit Legault in Montreal and Hina Alam in Fredericton.

Maura Forrest, Canadian Press