What happens during a Red Flag Warning? Alberta Wildfire explains
A sample document provided by Alberta Wildfire shows a hypothetical watch being created when the maximum daily temperatures is expected to hit 33 Celsius, the humidity is at 25 per cent or lower, and wind speeds are 10 km/h. Basically, when it is punishingly hot and dry, it doesn't take a lot of wind to trigger an alert.
And, just like weather alerts, 'watch' is one level below 'warning.' Alberta Wildfire upgraded the Red Flag to a warning as of 11 a.m. Thursday.
'We establish the watch based on the weather reports we receive every day,' said Derrick Forsythe, Wildfire Alberta's information officer. 'Of course, we can't tell how long it will last because it's weather dependent. When it comes to weather forecasting, when it's anything beyond three to five days, accuracy falls off a cliff.'
As of 11 a.m. Thursday, Environment Canada had heat warnings in place for almost all of Alberta. Only the mountain parks and the southernmost reaches of the province were exempt. The warnings covered all of the northern boreal forest regions.
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