Published Monday, June 28, 2021 6:21PM EDT
Forestry experts hope clear, blue skies hold over Western Canada as unprecedented hot weather pushes wildfire risks to levels just as record-breaking.
“The silver lining to this current heat wave thus far is that it's so hot and it's such a stable atmosphere that it's suppressing lightning activity,” University of Alberta wildfire scientist Mike Flannigan said Monday.
“If there's no ignition, we don't have a problem.”
That's a big if.
A community in central British Columbia broke Canada's all-time heat record Sunday with a temperature of 46 C and even northerly cities like Edmonton are expected to near the 40 C mark this week. Those temperatures have much of the west nervously eyeing the sky for a spark that could touch off dust-dry forests.