Federal officials declared a water shortage for the Hoover Dam’s Lake Mead, the largest water reservoir in the US. It will trigger mandatory water cuts to several western states starting next year.

Drought levels have been raised already for parts of the province and Dave Campbell, with the B.C. River Forecast Centre, says the current forecast points to drought conditions provincewide in the coming weeks.

The entirety of Southeast Alaska is in some state of drought.

Since the initial June to July heatwave shocked the Pacific Northwest, Heim says the Tsolum River Restoration Society has observed significantly fewer fish in the river, especially in its lower portions. Many of the remaining coho, which survived the heat wave, are suffering from diseases and fin rot as a result of heat stress.