Weather: Extreme heat wave in western Canada and the United States – record temperatures

A severe heat wave is sweeping western Canada and the northwestern United States. The city of Lytton in the Canadian province of British Columbia recorded a record temperature of 46.1 degrees Celsius on Sunday. This is the highest temperature ever recorded in Canada, the country’s environment ministry announced.

Over 40 degrees were measured across British Columbia over the weekend. The highest temperature previously recorded in Canada was 45 °C and was recorded in July 1937 in two cities in the province of Saskatchewan.

The Department of the Environment issued warnings for extreme heat for the provinces of British Columbia and Alberta and parts of Saskatchewan, Yukon and the Northwest Territories. The heat will last all week, it said. The temperature will be 10 to 15 degrees above normal.

“Dangerous Heat Wave”

The US National Weather Service issued a similar warning of a “dangerous heat wave” for the northwestern states of Washington and Oregon. Record values ​​were expected on Monday in the cities of Seattle and Portland. The weather service for the city of Spokane, Washington state, recorded a record temperature on Sunday. A temperature of 100 degrees Fahrenheit roughly corresponds to values ​​of 38 degrees Celsius.

The heat wave is particularly dangerous because it affects the United States over such a large area and lasts for such a long time. In many places it should not be colder than 20 °C even at night. For the elderly and the sick, this is a huge burden on their health.

The heat also increases the risk of forest fires. Especially summer storms, in which there is no significant amount of rain, can lead to new fires. There are already fires in many states.

The heat wave is due to the current high pressure area spreading over the western United States. Scientists have no doubts, though: It’s man-made climate change that is making extreme weather events more frequent.

This attitude is also supported by the findings of a new study from Texas A&M University and other research institutions: according to it, storms and thunderstorms have increased in frequency and intensity over the Great Plains in recent years, clearly indicating climate change. related to change. . The results were published in the journal »Nature Geology«.