The August long weekend will see a variety of weather in the West Central region, including some heat today, followed by a chance of thunderstorms and rain later on today into tomorrow. Environment Canada meteorologist Natalie Hasell explains. 

“There’s a low-pressure system making its way off the foothills and into the more or less southwestern corner of Saskatchewan. And with that and daytime heating, we should have a good chance of showers to occur with the risk of thunderstorm late this afternoon, continuing into this evening,” she said. 

After the possible chance of rain tomorrow, things are expected to clear off and warm up starting Sunday. 

“We have a little bit of a cooler day tomorrow as that low moves off and the winds shift a little bit coming out of the north. So, high of 27 and then Sunday a high of 29, Monday, a high of 30, and Tuesday high of 30. So not quite warning criteria, but still pretty hot nonetheless, and considering we are expecting at least a chance of showers, there should be some humidity involved in there. So, we'll see if we have any humidex concerns like tomorrow. The high is 27, but the forecast humidex is 31. It'll still feel kind of hot, even if it's slightly cooler temperatures. Most of the concerns that we could have in the summer are kind of happening in the next several days,” Hasell added. 

With the warm weather here for today, Hasell also gave some heat prevention tips to stay cool. 

“Wear sunscreen, moisturizer, make sure to hydrate, make sure to have plans if you're going to be outside, not to be outside for long extended periods of time. Have access to places where you can cool off and re-hydrate if you are working outdoors today, make that plan with your boss. Remember that everyone is affected by heat, but also that there are members of the population who are more at risk so, it's your opportunity to be the good neighbor or the good family member and check in on the very old folks who have very young kids and pregnant people. Pay attention to how people behave around you, heat exhaustion and heatstroke are really serious medical situations. Never leave pets, children or disabled people in an enclosed vehicle if you don't have to take them on the errand and with you, don't take them. If you do have to take them on the errand with you, bring them into the store. I know we always think it's just a few minutes, but it could be much longer if some delay occurs, and even if you leave your air conditioning on the car, if the car fails, well, temperatures can spike in that car, and they'll be that much hotter inside that car than outside,” Hasell said. 

Read your full five day weather forecast here.