With a brief shower of rain on the weekend come and gone, Victoria is set to plunge back into the furnace of another heatwave.
According to the Weather Network, a high-pressure upper-level ridge is expected to settle over the region, covering Vancouver Island and most of the province.
The ridge will bring high temperatures and dry conditions to an already blazing interior and could lead to worsening fires.
Temperatures in Victoria are not expected to be as extreme as an earlier heatwave in June.
However, data from Environment Canada suggests a forecasted high of 31 degrees Celsius on Thursday could break a record historic high for August 12 of 29.3 degrees, set in 1992.
Thursday and Friday will see the peak of high temperatures around the low 30s, with Sunday cooling off to a high of 27.
Some areas on the mainland are expected to see temperatures in the 40s.
The entirety of Vancouver Island remains under drought level 4 conditions, according to the British Columbia Drought Information Portal.
A new report from the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says that under all current emissions scenarios, global temperatures are set to increase until at least the mid-century.
“Many changes in the climate system become larger in direct relation to increasing global warming,” the report says.
“They include increases in the frequency and intensity of hot extremes, marine heatwaves, and heavy precipitation, agricultural and ecological droughts in some regions, and proportion of intense tropical cyclones, as well as reductions in Arctic sea ice, snow cover and permafrost.”
