Temperatures in the Foothills are expected to skyrocket this week.

A large ridge of high pressure is building up across western Canada which has lead to a thick dome of warm air that's bringing temperatures around 32-34 degrees to the area by the weekend.

Kirk Thorneby, meteorologist with Environment Canada, says we shouldn't have to worry about any big storms during this heat wave.

"With any severe weather there's always a contrast between hot and cold so in terms of this it's a very stagnant, staying-in-place, warm air mass so it's going to take a lot of cold air to push in to really cause some severe weather to form across the province and have any real longevity to it."

Thorneby says our area will be no stranger to heat through the rest of the summer.

"Starting off quite warm in through the beginning part of July, the seasonal models are showing that it's staying quite warm through most of the summer as well," he explains. "I don't know if it's going to be quite as warm as we're seeing for the next few weeks but definitely above normal conditions extending through the rest of the summer period."

He adds the chances of getting heatstroke increase during times of extreme heat.

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