Heat warnings blanket southern and eastern Sask.

Despite it being the last day of August, summer is still going strong in Saskatchewan.

Temperatures in many communities across the province will approach record territory on Wednesday, which has prompted heat warnings to be issued.

According to Environment Canada meteorologist Eric Dykes, temperatures reaching 32 C combined with overnight lows near 16 C are expected for the next two days across the eastern and southern areas of the province including Regina.

“A lot of the areas in southern Saskatchewan are borderline heat warning criteria,” said Dykes.

The heat warnings extend north into Melfort, Tisdale, Nipawin, Hudson Bay and Porcupine Plain. The criteria for a heat warning in that region of the province is 29 C combined with overnight lows of 14 C for two consecutive days.

Dykes mentioned that Saskatoon and northern Saskatchewan will also see warm temperatures over the next several days.

“Saskatoon, when I look at their forecast, they’re going to get very warm today, but with a temperature of 13 C tonight that’s going to give the reprieve needed to allow folks to open up their windows and cool off,” he mentioned.

Dykes said temperatures will cool Thursday night and Friday as a cold front moves through the region. However, hot conditions are forecast to return once again this weekend and continue into early next week.

“If I look into my crystal ball, it looks like we’re going to get that cooler air in Friday and then the heat comes back and it’s looking quite warm as we get into Sept. 6, 7 and 8,” Dykes explained. “It looks like the next week or so, we’ll be looking at the first week of September being above seasonal for this time of year.”

Dykes said there is a chance for Regina to break a temperature record on Labour Day Monday. In 1967, the temperature that day reached 34.4 C.

— With files from 980 CJME’s Shane Clausing