Environment Canada has issued a special weather statement for much of British Columbia due to a period of unseasonably hot weather later this week.

It says daytime highs across much of the Central and Southern Interior – including the Kamloops-area – will be in the low to mid 30’s while Northern B.C. will see temperatures in the mid to high 20s.

Daytime highs in parts of coastal B.C. will also be in the high 20s to low 30s with overnight lows across all of the province expected to be in the low to mid-teens.

“The BC Interior will experience unseasonably hot weather beginning on Friday, with the highest temperatures are expected from Sunday through Tuesday,” the special weather statement said.

“Daytime highs will be 10 to 15 degrees Celsius above seasonal values while overnight lows will be 5 to 10 degrees above what is normally experienced this time of year.”

Environment Canada says the above normal temperatures will cause freezing levels to rise, which could accelerate the snowpack melt, leading to local flooding in parts of the province. As of publishing, the only flood warning was in the Lower Thompson region, west of Kamloops, which includes Cache Creek and the Bonaparte River.

A number of Cache Creek residents have been evacuated due to the concerns of flooding on the Bonaparte River with people being told to head to Kamloops if they have nowhere else to go.

“We’re experiencing a historic high in the level of the Bonaparte River, which really doesn’t come as a surprise since we had such an incredible flow from Cache Creek this year,” EOC Information Officer, Wendy Coomber, told RadioNL.

“Our little creek ran like a river, and now our river is running quite higher than normal as well.”

Environment Canada says the elevated temperatures will increase the risk of heat related illnesses.

“While the developing heat conditions may well result in daily temperature records being broken, it must be emphasized that the expected hot conditions will not approach those reached during the “Heat Dome” of late June 2021,” it said.

Last year, the province expanded the use of the National Public Alerting system to include flood, wildfire and extreme heat threats.

For the latest on alerts from Environment Canada, go here. For the latest from the River Forecast Centre, go here.