This week's deadly heatwave in Canada has just broken a startling new world record.

Fort Smith, a small town in Canada's Northwest Territories, reached 39.9ºC on Wednesday, June 30. As well as being a new all-time record for the town, this is also the highest temperature observed at any location on Earth above a latitude of 60º N.

🇨🇦 Canadian Heat Wave-3pm update:Another world record was set today 30 June!39.6C at Fort Smith NWT highest temperature ever recorded worldwide above 60N and Highest temperature ever recorded in the Northwest Territory. More south 46.1C provisional at Ashcroft.

— Extreme Temperatures Around The World (@extremetemps) June 30, 2021

What does 60º N mean?

Latitude refers to how far north or south you are on Earth. If you are standing on the equator, you are at 0º of latitude and if you are at the north or south poles, you're at a latitude of 90º N or S.

For reference, here are the latitudes of some Australian capital cities:

• Darwin: 12.43º S
• Sydney: 33.86º S
• Hobart: 42.89º S

As you can see, latitude increases as you move further away from the equator, or closer to the poles, in each hemisphere.

Canada's Forth Smith sits at a latitude of 60.02º N. If the town was located at the same latitude in the Southern Hemisphere, it would lie around 1,900 km to the south of Hobart and about 700 km north of Casey Station in Antarctica.

Image: The red marker shows the latitude Forth Smith would sit at if it were located in the Southern Hemisphere.

For a temperature to almost reach 40ºC this far away from the equator is exceptional. It has no precedent in official records anywhere in the northern or southern hemispheres.

This remarkable feat comes one day after Lytton in Canada's British Columbia reached a searing 49.6C on Tuesday, June 29, setting a new world record for any location above 50º N.

Image: Modelled surface air temperature anomalies on Thursday, July 1. Source: Climate Reanalyzer

In addition to these high-latitude records, there have also been some exceptional high-altitude temperatures over the past several days.

An alpine town called Jasper in Canada's Alberta province reached 41.1ºC on June 30. This is an exceptional temperature for a site located 1,020 m above sea level. It was also the fourth consecutive day to set a new record in Jasper, following 37.3ºC, 39.0ºC and 40.3ºC on June 27, 28 and 29, respectively. Prior to this heatwave, Jasper's highest temperature in records dating back to 1914 was 36.7ºC in 1941.

According to the Washington Post, hundreds of deaths have already been linked to this record-breaking heatwave in Canada, and this number is likely to grow further in the coming days.