Wednesday 30 June 2021
Canada reports about 50 degrees
Third consecutive temperature record – more deaths
North America groans under heat wave – Canada reports third historic temperature record in three days. Officials are concerned about some segments of the population. You are in the middle of the hottest week ever.
Canada recorded the hottest temperature in the country for the third day in a row since records began. The Ministry of Environment and Climate Change tweeted, “At 4:20 pm (local time) the Lytton Weather Station reported 49.5 °C.” Police and communities reported dozens of deaths related to an unprecedented heat wave in western Canada and the northwestern United States.
At least 69 people died in downtown Vancouver, including several elderly people with previous illnesses, according to the national police agency RCMP. “While it is still under investigation, heat appears to play a role in most of the deaths,” a police officer said. There were many deaths in other communities as well, but no official figures are available yet.
Rare event: heat dome
“British Columbia is in the midst of its hottest week ever,” said John Horgan, head of the province on the country’s west coast. He called upon people to be careful about the risk of keeping cold compresses in the refrigerator and staying in the coldest part of the house. The environment ministry issued a warning to several provinces that “the ongoing, dangerous and historic heat wave will continue this week”.
The US cities of Portland, Oregon and Seattle in the northwest of the United States have also recorded the highest temperatures since records began in 1940. Air conditioning and fans were sold in many places. Some were looking for protection from the heat in underground garages or in their air-conditioned cars.
The phenomenon of “heat dome” is responsible for extreme heat, meaning that high pressure in the atmosphere keeps warm air in the region. According to Washington Post meteorologists, this heat dome intensity is “statistically so rare that it can only be expected on average once every few thousand years”. However, man-made climate change “made these types of extraordinary events more probable”.
