Heavy winds are expected in the Kamloops area tonight and tomorrow.

Environment Canada forecaster Armel Castellan says winds will reach 70 kilometres per hour in Kamloops and gusts will hit 80 or more in the Fraser Canyon and southern Cariboo.

“We’re dealing with a cold front, particularly a low-pressure system that’s going to cross into the province… In this case we’re going to have very strong winds, southernly to start, and in Kamloops in particular they’re going to materialize to be a little more easternly because of the orientation of your valley,” Castellan says.

“They’re going to be quite strong, 30 gusting to 50 in anticipation of this front, so that’s kind of the overnight period. And then in the morning you’re going to be dealing with a shift from east to west… And so that’s going to be a very sudden and very opposite shift.”

The special weather statement is in effect for the North Thompson, South Thompson, the Cariboo, Shuswap, Lower Mainland and other surrounding areas.

Castellan says the system also could bring flurries over mountain passes with those strong winds.