Retail outlets are selling all the usual summer stuff — fans, air conditioners and water sport supplies — but the warm weather also seems to have prompted a lot of people to do home canning.
“It’s probably a bumper crop year,” said Bill Shields, general manager of the Canadian Tire on Douglas Street.
“I think a lot more people are using natural products and making their own foods like spritzers. I think there’s a lot more people doing their own vegetables, too.
“Barbecuing is going pretty good, too.”
Summer in Victoria has been average in temperature and precipitation, said Andre Besson, a weather services specialist with Environment Canada.
The mean monthly temperature — the average of highs and lows — was 17.9 C for July. It wasn’t a record, Besson said, though it was a notch over the normal mean temperature of 16.9 C for the month.
There’s a high risk of forest fires for many parts of the Island, and campfires and outdoor burning are banned.
People are asked to be careful not to start fires in the woods, said provincial fire information officer Donna MacPherson.
“Every single fire needs an ignition source,” she said.
Humans are a major source of forest fires, but lightning is also blamed for many wildfires each year.
“The benefit and downside of lightning is it can strike anywhere, but it often strikes on mountaintops away from people. Most human-caused fires happen where there are people,” MacPherson said.
Human-caused fires are a greater threat to communities and infrastructure because of their proximity, she said.
“They become of interest and a problem right away. They’re near a campground, a recreation centre, a highway,” she said.
“The weather so far hasn’t given Vancouver Island much lightning, but it has set us up for potential large fires once they start because the fire rating is high to extreme throughout the Coastal Fire Centre.”
It’s typical to see these kinds of fire ratings at times during each summer, she said.
This year, the high ratings kicked in earlier, then there was rain and a reprieve, and now the ratings have risen again in their threat to forests.
“We are in this state that we can have a fire, and we wonder what’s going to start it,” MacPherson said.
“If it’s not lightning, it’s people. If you’re out in the forest, don’t do anything that will start a forest fire.”
A tossed cigarette, a hot vehicle manifold igniting dry grass or an abandoned campfire could ignite a fire that destroys hectares of woodland. “Parking your car in tall grass can do it, too. You might drive away not knowing what you did and then, all of a sudden, the fire happened where you were and that place that you enjoyed is gone.”
The warm weather has health authorities warning people to wear hats and apply sunscreen and drink plenty of water.
Excessive exposure to the sun can lead to sunstroke and heat exhaustion. Island Health has these tips for those who want to enjoy the sun safely:
• Seek shade and keep skin covered as much as possible.
• Wear a hat with a wide brim.
• Ensure children’s skin is protected or in the shade.
• Apply sunscreen often and opt for one with a minimum SPF of 30.
• Avoid strenuous outdoor activities during peak hours of sun.
• Keep your body cool by dressing in lightweight and loose-fitting clothing that covers most of your body.
• Never leave children or pets in a car unattended. Vehicles sitting in heat can reach temperatures that can be fatal within a few minutes.
