If you’re planning on heading up to the lake over the next few days, it may be the perfect time to do so, as Environment Canada is forecasting a very hot long weekend for the Moose Jaw area.

Jesse Wagar, an Environment Canada Meteorologist says that a heat wave is moving through this weekend and into next week as well.

“Low to mid-30s for daytime highs over the next week, so it’s quite the stretch of hot weather for Moose Jaw coming up,” says Wagar. “I know everyone wants to ask when the storms are coming with all this heat and as for this weekend there is a low risk for seeing thunderstorms.”

Wagar did want to add that though it’s a low risk for thunderstorms this weekend, conditions can change quickly and people should be weather aware and have access to alerts to keep them informed.

Friday is expected to reach a high of 31 degrees, with Saturday a little hotter at 32, Sunday cooling down to 29 degrees and Saskatchewan Day will be the hottest at 33 degrees, which Wager said could cause the agency to issue a Heat Warning.

“For southern portions of Saskatchewan, we need two days in a row where the daytime high temperatures are 32 degrees or more, and the overnight lows in between those days have to be at least 16 or higher. The higher the overnight low temperature is, the harder it is for our bodies to recover from the heat of the day,” explains Wager on how a Heat Warning is issued.

Up to this point, it has been somewhat of a cooler summer with only a few times so far where temperatures have gotten dangerously hot. One was during the July 15th weekend when temperatures got above 30 degrees, with the humidex bringing it closer to 40. The other was on June 18, when the mercury reached 36 degrees.

All that aside it hasn’t been quite the hot weather the province saw last summer, but Wagar says that’s not completely out of the ordinary.

“This is the time of the year when we see this hot weather. For the next week or so it does look like the daytime high temperatures will be in the low to mid-30s. The overnight low temperatures are also starting to increase. Overall the pattern is for these warm temperatures to stick around.”

Though hot temperatures are in the forecast for this long weekend, none of the expected highs are in the record-breaking territory.

“The temperature records for this time of the year are quite high in the Moose Jaw area. They’re in that 37-40-degree range to start breaking records. It looks like those records will be safe but it will be quite hot.”

As for any long weekend or heat waves, Environment Canada is reminding people to be cautious with the heat.

“The heat can be dangerous. As much as everybody wants to be in the hot weather just make sure people stay hydrated, consider rescheduling those outdoor activities for cooler hours of the day, and of course, don’t leave any person or pet inside a closed vehicle for any length of time in this hot weather.”

Keep up to date with current weather conditions on Discover Moose Jaw’s Weather Radar and our five-day forecast on the website.