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TORONTO — As Canada sweltered under a persistent bout of intense heat, weather warnings were issued Thursday from coast to coast to coast. 

Southern parts of Ontario and Quebec are entering the third day of a multi-day heat event that Environment Canada has warned could make it feel like 40 C when the humidity is factored in.

People fled stuffy apartments for air-conditioned food courts in Toronto's downtown, where the agency forecasted a Thursday high of 30 C, feeling like 37 C. 

“It’s hot and (my apartment) is very small so I come here and I feel fresh with the air conditioning and it feels good," 58-year-old Valia Ruano said inside the Eaton Centre food court. 

Rosie Burns and Anthony Omolayole, both 41, said they often bring their two young children to the wading pool at David Crombie Park in east downtown Toronto to get away from their apartment.

"It is incredibly hot in our living area and we love the wading pool here," Burns said.

"Even as parents when it's hot we can dip our feet into that ice cold water and it feels great," she added.

People in some areas should see relief soon.  

Environment Canada meteorologist Steven Flisfeder said a cold front will pass through Ontario and Quebec on Thursday causing risk of sever thunderstorms. 

"In the wake of the cold front, we expect temperatures to moderate towards near normal," he said. 

"The next coming days will see a return to normal temperatures."

Flisfeder said severe thunderstorm watches have been issued for areas north of The Greater Toronto Area through central and eastern Ontario and through much of southern Quebec. 

A heat warning was also in effect in British Columbia, from the north to central coast and in the Fraser Canyon area east of Vancouver, where daytime highs between 30 C and 35 C are expected through Sunday.

A similar warning was in place for the Fort Liard and Fort Providence regions of the Northwest Territories, where temperatures are expected to rise to low 30s by Friday or Saturday and into next week. 

Inuvik, south of the Beaufort Sea in the Northwest Territories, remained under a heat warning after the temperature hit 33 C on Tuesday, a local daily temperature record, according to Environment Canada records dating back to 1957. A restaurant in town closed due to the heat and a harpoon-making workshop was postponed at a local drop-in centre servicing homeless and underprivileged people. 

On the East Coast, Environment Canada says a period of similarly hot temperatures that began Thursday could stretch into the weekend in New Brunswick, as well as the Churchill Falls region of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Scientists have warned that 2023 could see record heat as human-caused climate change, driven largely by the burning of fossil fuels like coal, natural gas and oil, warmed the atmosphere. They also noted that La Nina, the natural cooling of the ocean that had acted as a counter, was giving way to El Nino, the reverse phenomenon marked by warming oceans.

Earth's average temperature hit an unofficial record high of 17.18 C on Wednesday, matching a record set the day before, and surpassing the previous record set on Monday, according to the University of Maine's Climate Reanalyzer. The series of grim milestones are not an official government record, but the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration indicated it would take the figures into consideration for its official calculations. 

The United Nations' World Meteorological Organization said in May there was a 98 per cent likelihood that one of the next five years, or the five-year period as a whole, would be the warmest on record.

Environment Canada is warning of elevated risks for heat-related illnesses and deteriorating air quality. It urges people to drink water before feeling thirsty, check on the elderly and watch for the effects of heat illness such as fainting, swelling, heat exhaustion and heat stroke.

Researchers have repeatedly noted that people experiencing homelessness, people with disabilities, the elderly, people of colour and low-income households with little access to air conditioning and outdoor parks bear the brunt of heat waves.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 6, 2023.

Jordan Omstead and Nairah Ahmed, The Canadian Press