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Anthony Sharwood, 28 Jun 2021, 3:31 AM UTC

Records obliterated as 46-degree heatwave sends Canadians into meltdown

Records obliterated as 46-degree heatwave sends Canadians into meltdown

An extreme heatwave is baking western Canada to a degree never experienced before in the area.

Temperatures in the province of British Columbia have soared to levels that would even make an Australian seek shade and a very cold drink.

Image: As you can see, the heat (dark red and purple) is centred on British Columbia (the area where the US/Canada border meets the coast) Source: Weatherzone.

  • It's currently Sunday night in Canada, but on Sunday afternoon, Lytton, a small town of 250 people three hours northeast of the coastal city of Vancouver, reached 46.6°C.
  • This was the first time a temperature in excess of 45°C had been recorded anywhere in Canada.
  • And it's not over yet. Lytton is forecast to reach 46°C Monday and 47°C on Tuesday.

And that's just one example. Both the extreme temperatures and the duration of this heatwave are quite literally off the scale.

  • Canadian TV network CTV News reported that 67 communities in the provinces of Alberta, British Columbia and Northwest Territories set daily maximum temperature records on Saturday.
  • Vancouver - the city of 2.5 million people which is familiar to so many Aussies as a departure point to the Canadian snowfields - recorded tops in the low 30s. Its temperatures are moderated somewhat by its coastal location, but the weather is more extreme in Vancouver's eastern suburbs, which like Australia’s coastal cities, can be more than 10 degrees hotter just a short distance from the coast.
  • Chilliwack, a city of 100,000 people in the Fraser River Valley 100 km west of Vancouver, reached 40.3°C on Sunday and is tipped to reach an almost unimaginable (to locals) 44°C on Monday.

"I can't even imagine those sorts of temperatures in Canada," Jono Lineen, a British Columbian living in Canberra told Weatherzone.

"As a displaced Canadian, when I first moved to Australia to I was shocked physically and mentally by the heat here. My body couldn't adapt to it. I felt so lethargic during the summers.

"Growing up, nobody had air conditioners. To think that now millions of people are facing those types of temperatures… there are going to be all types of medical issues, especially with older people."

So what's causing this extreme heat?

"High pressure is trapped under a 'heat dome', unable to be pushed through the country by wind, creating long-lasting high temperatures wherever the pressure sits," Environment Canada meteorologist Armel Castellan said.

In simple terms an Aussie can understand, western Canada is under the influence of a large, near-stationary, blocking high pressure system, of the type we saw in the Black Summer of 2019/20.

And while the extreme temperatures look likely to dissipate in most of western Canada by about Wednesday, warm to hot weather will persist for much of the rest of the week in large parts of Canada’s west and midwest.

Note to media: You are welcome to republish text from the above news article as direct quotes from Weatherzone. When doing so, please reference www.weatherzone.com.au in the credit.