B.C. wildfires: Cooler weather forecast but thunderstorms could exacerbate wildfires

A red and smoky sky in 70 Mile House, B.C. The community is under evacuation orders and alerts as the Pear Lake wildfire creeps closer. Photo by Carleigh Jensan

Article content

B.C. fire officials are warning that a cold front passing over parts of B.C. ravaged by wildfires could cause extreme fire behaviour this weekend.

Article content

The cold front may bring stronger winds and changing weather, the B.C. Wildfire Service said in an update Saturday.

Article content

Article content

The Pear Lake wildfire north of Clinton has grown to more than 900 square kilometres, according to the service. That blaze has forced thousands of residents from their homes and destroyed some properties.

Article content

Article content

Fire officials said they expect winds gusting as high as 45 km/h Saturday, “making wind directions difficult to forecast.” There’s also a chance of a thunderstorm which could cause “erratic winds from various directions.”

Article content

Article content

Tanmay Rane, a meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, said if there are thunderstorms, the wind gusts could reach 90 km/h. He said the cold front has already brought some rain to the Cariboo region, however an upper trough, which is colder air over hotter air at the surface, will likely create instability and thunderstorms.

Article content

Rane said cooler daytime highs in the mid-teens to low 20s in the Cariboo will likely start to climb again on Monday.

Article content

A cold front sounds like it would be welcome relief for firefighters after days of hot and dry weather, but according to Matt McDonald, lead fire weather meteorologist with the B.C. Wildfire Service, these fronts tend to come in “quite aggressively” with a lot of wind. In the summer they can often be dry with thunderstorms and no precipitation, and can bring lightning, sparking new wildfires.

Article content

More than 1,800 properties remain on evacuation order and hundreds more are on alert in the area.

Article content

There are more than 100 wildfires burning across B.C., with nearly half considered out of control.

Article content

More to come…

Article content

Article content