Expect heat warnings to be more of a thing in N.L. from now on

With warm and muggy air starting the week across much of Newfoundland and Labrador, a weather statement almost as rare as a white moose has appeared for some parts of the province: a heat warning.

It was the first issued under the new, lowered standards for such a warning from Environment Canada.

"Before, our heat warning was issued when a humidex value of 40 was going to be achieved for one hour," explained Ian Hubbard, a meteorologist with Environment Canada.

That's a tall order for a province that was shovelling snow on June 26.

The agency, along with Health Canada, crunched the numbers and realized meeting that threshold was "not very common at all," Hubbard understated, and so the criteria were revised and put into effect in May.

Now, heat warnings will be issued anytime there are:

• Two consecutive days of 26 C or more, including an overnight temperature at or above 15 C;
• Or, a humidex value of 34 for two consecutive days

A large swath of the island that just recently put away their mittens has fallen under the new criteria for Monday and Tuesday. That area stretches from Bonavista North, all over central Newfoundland and through to Deer Lake and White Bay. Inland temperatures could reach 30 degrees with the humidex pushing it even higher. 

Along with those warnings, the forest fire index has risen, and Grand Falls-Windsor has banned open outdoor fires for the time being.

Hubbard said while those numbers may not be the scorching temperatures that regularly roast other parts of Canada, warnings are tailored to each individual province, and the new threshold recognizes when it's unusual enough for the North Atlantic to issue an alert.

"Through a combination of the latest in health science, and analysis of the weather patterns, it was realized that sometimes there are very significant heat effects at lower temperatures that really effect a lot of people," said Hubbard, advising people to remember to drink water, seek shade and air conditioning, and be careful not to leave pets or small children in cars.

"We want to make sure the warning is useful, but at the same time not overdoing it so it's happening all the time, because then you get into that situation where people aren't paying as much attention to it as they should."

And for anyone cranking their air conditioner (if you happen to own one at all) you can probably turn it off in 24 hours or so.

"As we move into the middle of the week, toward Wednesday, things are going to cool off a little bit. A little bit of a weak cold front is going to do through," said Hubbard.

Just as long as that cold front doesn't bring flurries …

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