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Key Information about heat and health Extreme heat overview Heat and health Heat health tips Preparing and responding to extreme heat Heat preparation & planning resources BC Provincial Heat Alert Response System (HARS)

Extreme Heat

Be safe when the weather gets warm. Stay on top of extreme heat advisories, understand how heat alert and response systems operate in B.C. and learn about the impacts of heat on health.

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Key Information about heat and health

To access weather information and alerts for the Interior region, please visit the
Environment Canada website or download the WeatherCAN app or Alertable.

Extreme heat overview

Extreme heat events (also known as heat waves) involve high temperatures and may be combined with high humidity. During extreme heat events, individuals are at higher risk of experiencing heat-related illness. As we experienced in 2021, heat can have devastating impacts. The BC Coroners Service directly attributed 619 deaths to the 2021 extreme heat events.

Episodes like this are projected to become hotter, longer, and more frequent as BC’s climate changes. Interventions that are practical and feasible at the personal, community, governmental, and societal levels can increase community resiliency and save lives.

Heat and health

Exposure to hotter than average conditions (prolonged exposure to high outdoor or indoor temperature including overnight) can lead to increases in body temperature, which may cause a number of heat-related illnesses.

The impact of an extreme heat event varies from person to person based on one’s heat susceptibility. Heat can affect everyone's health, but some people are more susceptible to sustained high temperature and may be more at risk of developing severe heat-related illness and death because of social conditions or individual factors like age, underlying medical conditions and mobility issues.

Those at higher heat susceptibility

Those at higher heat susceptibility include:

Age:

  • Seniors ages 65 years or older
  • Infants and young children

Working Conditions:

  • People who work outdoors
  • People wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) in places not temperature controlled
  • People who perform manual labour

Health Status:

  • People with chronic poor health, heart problems, or breathing difficulties or diabetes
  • People on certain medications
  • People who are pregnant
  • People with mental illness such as schizophrenia, depression, or anxiety
  • People with substance use disorders
  • People with limited mobility

Living Conditions:

  • People who live alone or are socially isolated, homeless, or unsheltered
  • People with low income
  • People living in homes with poor temperature control
  • People living in areas without access to green space

Mental Health and Substance Use:

Learn more about the impacts of extreme heat

Visit HealthLink BC's Heat-related Illness webpage

Heat health tips

HealthLink BC

Health Canada

Government of BC

Periods of heat are often associated with wildfire smoke events in our communities. For more information on air quality, please refer to our Air Quality page.

Preparing and responding to extreme heat

Click through the arrows below to learn more about each category of actions.

Preparing for extreme heat

There are a number of steps you can take to prepare for extreme heat. For example:

 Your Home

  • Identify a cooler space in your home to sleep at night.
  • Check that you have a working fan/air conditioner (if you have one)
    • While fans can help you feel more comfortable, they do not work to lower body temperature for older people at temperatures over 35 degrees Celsius
  • Practise opening doors and windows to move cool air in at night and shutting your windows to keep the sun out during the day.
  • Get a digital room thermometer to check the temperature of your home so you know when it is getting too hot. Sustained exposure to temperatures over 31 degrees Celsius (87.8 degrees Fahrenheit) should be avoided for heat-susceptible populations, whenever possible.

Your Friends and Family

  • Think of people who might be more susceptible to heat and develop a buddy system – check in with your hot weather buddy often, especially in the evenings when indoor temperatures are highest, and in the morning to see how they managed throughout the night.
  • If your home is cooler, invite those who are at highest risk to stay with you.

 Your Health

  • Find an air-conditioned place to cool off on very hot days (e.g., stay with family and friends, visit a museum, movie theatre, library, or shopping mall).
  • Talk to your doctor or pharmacist if you take regular meditations to understand if it increases your health risk in the heat.
  • Understand the signs and symptoms of heat-related illness so you can identify them right away. Take immediate action to cool down and call for help if needed.

You can print this two-sided post card, Be prepared for heat this summer (PDF), and post it in your home to help remind you of these steps.

During a heat event

Keep your home cool by:

  • Opening windows when the outdoor temperature goes down below the indoor temperature at night
  • Shut windows and close curtains/blinds to keep cooler air in and the sun out
  • Avoid making meals using the oven
  • Important: If you are experiencing extreme heat during an air quality advisory, prioritize cooling down. Heat is typically more dangerous than short-term exposure to poor air quality.

Keep your body cool by:

  • Wearing a damp towel or shirt
  • Taking a cool bath or shower
  • Putting an ice tray in front of a fan
  • Using a personal mister or spray bottle
  • Drinking lots of water
  • Lowering your activity level and avoiding intense activities
  • Important: While fans can help you feel more comfortable, they do not work to lower body temperature for older people at temperatures over 35C.

Do your best to take care of high-risk individuals by:

  • Visiting them to check their indoor temperature
  • Encouraging them to take cool baths and sleep in their coolest room
  • Invite them to your house if you have air conditioning
  • Never leave children, dependent adults or pets alone in a parked car. Leaving windows open will not help.
Symptoms

Severe heat illness and heat stroke are medical emergencies. Call 9-1-1 if you are caring for someone with signs or symptoms of severe heat-related illness. Symptoms of severe heat-related illness include:

  • Nausea and/or vomiting
  • Faint or loss of consciousness
  • Confusion or disorientation
  • Difficulty speaking
  • Movement and coordination problems
  • Lethargy
  • Not sweating
  • Hot, flushed or very pale skin
  • Not urinating or very little urinating
  • Rapid breathing and faint, rapid heart rate
  • Body temperature >39°C (102°F)

While waiting for help to arrive, you can help cool the person by:

  • Moving them to a cool place, if possible
  • Remove excess clothing
  • Apply cold water, wet towels or ice packs around the body, especially the neck, armpits, and groin

Symptoms of mild to moderate heat-related illness include:

  • Headache
  • Nausea
  • Weakness
  • Irritability
  • Light-headed or dizziness
  • Disorientation
  • Thirst or dry mouth
  • Difficulty swallowing
  • Fatigue, malaise
  • Heat rash, heat edema or heat cramps
  • Decreased urine output
  • Increased heart rate
  • Skins feels very warm and sweaty
  • Body temperature >38°C (100°F)

Mild to moderate heat-related illness can quickly become severe. Contact a health-care provider or HealthLinkBC at 8-1-1 if you are unsure. If symptoms worsen, call 9-1-1.

Learn more about the signs of heat-related illness

Power Outages

Heat preparation & planning resources

Click through the arrows below to access additional resources.

BC Provincial Heat Alert Response System (HARS)

To provide consistency and guidance for community response to heat, heat alert response systems are designed to:

  • Warn the public about heat risk through an organized and defined communication system
  • Help individuals and communities prepare and protect themselves, before and after an extreme heat event
  • Alert decision-makers to take preventative actions to protect public health
  • Increase community resilience to extreme heat and develop effective actions to reduce heat-health risks, especially to those who are most susceptible.

The BC HARS 2026 activation guidelines are aligned with ECCC’s new colour-coded weather alerts. The three colour-coded tiers used in the BC HARS follow the revised federal public weather alerting system that was first introduced in November 2025.

This new impact-based approach will improve public safety because it considers potential impacts of the weather event and public risk so individuals can make informed decisions on how to prepare and governments and agencies can establish better guidelines.

ECCC colour levels are based on both an assessment of the potential impact of the weather event and the forecast confidence. The higher the potential impact and the higher the confidence in the forecast, the higher the alert level

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