Ottawa baking under the heat
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Environment Canada issues heat warnings for northern, central Saskatchewan
Environment and Climate Change Canada has issued heat warnings for northern and central Saskatchewan, warning of daytime temperatures near 30 C over the weekend. Major communities like Prince Albert, the Battlefords and Lloydminster are all expected to be affected. The warning extends across the province from just north of Saskatoon and Humboldt to the border with the Northwest Territories. Daytime temperatures are expected to decline to the mid-20s by early next week. An air quality warning was also issued for northern Saskatchewan on Saturday morning, with wildfire smoke expected to cause poor air quality and reduced visibility across the region. Environment Canada is encouraging people to watch for early signs of heat exhaustion. Heat exhaustion symptoms include headache, nausea, dizziness and intense fatigue. The most immediate way to resolve symptoms is to drink water and slow down physical activity, especially outdoors. Heat stroke carries many of the same symptoms as heat exhaustion, in addition to red and hot skin, confusion and loss of consciousness. Heat strokes require emergency medical help and should be treated by a health-care provider immediately. In terms of cooler indoor environments, Environment Canada recommends closing blinds or shades to reduce sunlight, turning on air conditioning and using a fan. Public spaces like cooling centres or community centres are also available to ease heat stress.
CBC
a day ago
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Extreme weather caused by climate change increasingly cancelling major events: study
Social Sharing More and more major cultural, social, business and arts events around the world are being disrupted or cancelled by extreme weather events caused by climate change, according to a new study published in the International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction. The study, Mapping the impact of extreme weather on global events and mass gatherings: Trends and adaptive strategies, details that from 2004 to 2024 more than 2,000 mass gatherings were reportedly disrupted around the world, with events in British Columbia accounting for 74. According to Shawna McKinley, co-author of the study and instructor of sustainable event management operations at the B.C. Institute of Technology, the number of events disrupted has increased in recent years, particularly in the years following the COVID-19 pandemic. McKinley said arts, cultural and sports events are particularly vulnerable. She said there are hot spots where a disproportionate number events have been disrupted. In Canada, this includes cities like Halifax, Calgary, and Kelowna, as well as the entire province of B.C. She said in other places, hurricanes, heat and flooding are often to blame for disruptions, but in B.C., wildfires and smoke are often to blame, as well as heat. 'Things that festivals take extremely seriously' Erin Benjamin, president of the Canadian Live Music Association, said her industry is very aware of the impact that extreme weather driven by climate change is having on events. "We're really pre-occupied with the way weather is becoming more and more severe over time — everything from cancelling events to having to evacuate sites, to having to elevate and escalate emergency preparedness plans," Benjamin said. "All of these things are things that festivals take extremely seriously." She said the live music industry adds $11 billion to Canada's GDP annually and creates more than 100,000 jobs, but many organizations and festivals are operating close to the financial edge and it can be impossible to recover from a cancellation. "There is an economic aspect, there's a cultural aspect and certainly there's a social aspect, and for all of these reasons and others, we need to be very preoccupied with the impact of severe weather on outdoor concerts and festivals," Benjamin said. WATCH | Outdoor festival and events organizers are being forced to beef up insurance and plan for disruptions Extreme weather forcing changes to outdoor festivals, sporting events 12 months ago As extreme weather events become more common, outdoor festival and events organizers are being forced to beef up insurance and plan for disruptions with new safety strategies that can come at steep financial cost. She said there are organizers reacting to weather events and then there are those who are adapting to climate change. The study notes an example in B.C., the Salmon Arm Roots and Blues festival in the province's Interior. Benjamin recalled attending the festival several years ago — a particularly smokey experience due to wildfires in the area. Last year the festival was scheduled one month earlier than in previous years — in late July instead of late August — as a way to try to reduce weather-related disruptions. "Relocating on the calendar is a possibility for some folks, but not all, and it's not really a strategy that all can use," Benjamin said. Indoor mass gatherings also potentially affected Music festivals seem especially vulnerable to weather-related disruptions, as they're typically held outdoors, but McKinley said even less obvious types of events, like indoor business conferences can also be upset when things like major storms ground aircraft and attendees can't make it to to the event. She said emergencies like wildfires or flooding could also affect business events when evacuees and first responders fill up hotels and leave conference-goers nowhere to stay. McKinley said her research team gathered accounts of as many disrupted events as they could in the years studied and looked for overlaps with studies that highlighted the role of climate change causing the weather events or making them more extreme — something that occurred in 57 per cent of cases. "If we look at an area like British Columbia, you need to be anticipating escalating heat, you need to be anticipating more extreme urban rainfall events," McKinley said. "That is just going to make things a bit more unpredictable."
