The latest version of the BC Heat Alert and Response System (HARS) is now available. BC HARS was developed to support planning and response efforts related to the public health impacts of significant heat events in BC. The alerting system helps individuals and communities prepare for heat and protect themselves during a heat wave, and alerts decision-makers to take preventive actions to protect public health.
New for 2026:
- Warning levels and activation guidelines for heat events now align with the new colour-coded weather alerting system used by Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC).
- BC HARS now has three warning levels – yellow, orange and red – based on the anticipated impacts and likelihood of the weather forecasted by ECCC. This update follows federal changes across alerts for all weather hazards.
- BC HARS: 2026 has mapped the province into four threshold zones with specific ranges of daytime and overnight temperatures that would trigger warnings for each zone. It also details the new activation guidelines, and which forecast regions are contained in each threshold zone.
To complement BC HARS, the BC Centre for Disease Control has developed a BC HARS Lookup Tool which allows response partners to check BC HARS zone and ECCC forecast region for any location in the province. It also provides summary information about historic summer temperatures(2010-2024).
Contact the Ministry of Health with questions about the updated HARS document or the Lookup Tool.