As additional record temperatures are forecast, a heat dome has been placed over Alberta and Saskatchewan.

An intense heatwave is slowly spreading east across the Prairie provinces on Wednesday, and regions of western Canada may once again experience record-breaking temperatures. Environment Canada has issued heat warnings for much of British Columbia and Manitoba, as well as sections of the Northwest Territories and all of Alberta and Saskatchewan.

A heat dome, or ridges of high pressure hovering above the Prairies that generate an effect similar to a pressure cooker, is to blame. The heat dome, according to David Phillips, a senior climatologist with Environment Canada, is "a long-term kind of event... this one has legs."

According to him, as the heatwave advances east, it will grow less strong and will most likely not reach the eastern provinces."Winnipeg would be the final large city to see this heat dome," he explained. According to Environment Canada, Alberta set 38-day temperature records on Tuesday, with the hottest being 41.5 degrees Celsius in the Grande Prairie area, 40.7 degrees Celsius in the Beaverlodge area, and 39.3 degrees Celsius in the Drumheller area.

Phillips describes the province's four consecutive days of breaking daily temperature records as a "spectacular occurrence." Calgary set a new high-temperature record of 36.3 degrees Celsius on Tuesday. According to Environment Canada, the city's record high temperature was 36.5 degrees Celsius in August 2018.

Today's maximum temperature is anticipated to be 35 degrees Celsius in Calgary, 37 degrees Celsius in Edmonton, and 39 degrees Celsius in Grande Prairie. As of Wednesday evening, most of Manitoba was under a heat advisory. On Tuesday, a new Canadian temperature record was set in the town of Lytton, British Columbia, when the temperature reached 49.6 degrees Celsius.

B.C. continues to have the highest temperatures in Canada, with temperatures in locations like Kelowna, Vernon, and Kamloops lingering in the low 40s, though Phillips predicts a modest drop in temperatures. "My sense is that by the end of the weekend, it will have very well passed through," he said. "The hot weather will linger, but not as painfully."

So far, the Northwest Territories and Yukon have set 20 daily temperature records. On Monday, the temperature in Nahanni Butte, Northwest Territories, reached 38.1 degrees Celsius, the highest ever recorded in the region.

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