B.C. breaks more than 4 dozen single-day heat temperature records over weekend
Posted May 14, 2023 3:32 pm.
Last Updated May 15, 2023 8:32 am.
More than a dozen single-day temperature records were broken each day in B.C. over the weekend, as the province continues to swelter under an unseasonable heatwave.
Environment Canada says among the 18 records broken Saturday, the highest temperature recorded was 32.4 degrees in Squamish, followed by 31.6 degrees in Agassiz, just a touch warmer than the 31.5-degree heat recorded in Pitt Meadows.
Single-day temperature records across B.C.’s South Coast tumbled over the weekend. (CityNews Image)
The West Vancouver area Saturday also broke its previous recorded record with the temperature reaching 29.7 degrees. White Rock made the list with its new record topping 30.7 degrees, with its old record of 27.8 which was set in 1959.
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On Sunday, more than 33 single-day records were broken.
Squamish saw its temperature record of 29.2 degrees set in 2018 smashed, with the area seeing 35.8 degrees Sunday. Pitt Meadows recorded 32.3 degrees, while the sea-side White Rock even saw 29.3 degrees.
Andrew Pershing, the director of ClimateScience, says climate change is going to make heatwaves like this a lot more common.
“Some of them have happened in the past. This is not like a totally unprecedented kind of event. But it’s that the frequency of these events are becoming so much more likely and more common in this climate. And so the more CO2 (carbon dioxide) that goes in the atmosphere, the more of these kinds of heat events you’re likely to get,” he said.
“So that’s gonna lead to increased risk of wildfire, like what’s going on in Alberta. You know, places that still have snowpack that’s going to melt faster and potentially lead to some flooding.”
Read more: B.C. wildfire burning out of control between Squamish and Whistler
Pershing adds this early-season heat can be more impactful to people than heat later in the summer because people haven’t acclimated to the high temperatures yet.
He says the heat can also impact the natural timings things like the blooming of flowers, when migratory birds return to areas, as well as impacts on marine life.
