‘Stay hydrated’ as hot weekend on its way

Drink plenty of water and don’t forget the sunblock, advises Environment Canada.

Thanks to a high-pressure ridge, continuous sun and warmer-than-normal temperatures are being forecast for Metro Vancouver and southern B.C. on Saturday and Sunday.

“It is going to be a hot weekend,” meteorologist Cindy Yu said Friday. “We’re potentially looking at eight to nine degrees above normal. Stay hydrated and enjoy the sun.”

On Saturday, areas closer to the water in Metro Vancouver are expected to hit 26 Celsius. Further inland, expect 32 C.

It will be even warmer on Sunday, around 28 by the water and 34 in the Fraser Valley.

Normal temperatures for Metro Vancouver are around 20 C for this time of the year.

In Kelowna, the mercury is expected to hit 35 C on Saturday. The city’s normal temperature for this time of the year is around 26 C.

“We’re not expecting a long period of heat,” Yu said. “There is a trough moving through late Monday into Tuesday.”

By mid-week, she said, temperatures in Metro Vancouver should drop to the low- to mid-20s. In Kelowna, it will cool to 26 degrees.

Rain is more likely in central and northern B.C. For the southern region, including Metro Vancouver, Yu said, there is a 30 to 40 per cent chance of precipitation.

She described this period as a transition from spring to summer, but it is difficult to say how long the transition will last.

The longer range forecast, she said, is for a warmer-thannormal summer.

“At some point in July and August, we will see some of the warmer-than-normal temperatures occurring, and maybe more in frequency,” Yu said

Warmer temperatures and sun are a welcome relief for Metro Vancouver. The region recently experienced its wettest spring on record. In March, April and May, 446.7 mm of rain fell, compared to an average of 267.4 mm.