B.C. saw 37 temperature records melt Monday amid a heat wave that has made for an unseasonably hot spring.
Towns and cities where the records were broken spanned the province, though the hottest areas were in the Southern Interior where two cities saw heat inch toward 40 C. And of the 37 records broken across B.C., 30 were above 30 C.
The hottest place in Canada Monday was Lytton, B.C., where the temperature reached 36.5 C, burning up the old record of 33.9 C set in 1949. On Sunday, it broke another daily record with a reading of 35.9 C.
Next was Pemberton where the temperature reached 35.9 C, breaking an old record of 30 C set in 1925, while close behind was Cache Creek, which set a new record of 35 C, breaking a previous record of 33 C set in 2018.
Larger centres saw heat reach new heights also. Vancouver reached 24.3 C, edging past the previous record of 24.2 C set in 1997; in Victoria the mercury reached 29.5 C, breaking a record of 25.9 C set in 2006.
Kamloops saw a daytime high of 32.2 C Monday, breaking its 1924 record of 31.1 C and Kelowna got to 32.1 C, surpassing the record set in 2018 of 31.3 C.
These sweltering days aren’t going to go away anytime soon.
“A massive upper-level ridge of high pressure has built in historic heat across B.C.’s Interior,” said Peter Quinlan, Global Okanagan meteorologist.
“These 30 C daytime highs are expected to continue through the week before some relief arrives in the form of cooler temperatures with the potential for some moisture over the long weekend.”
As part of a special weather statement issued Monday, Environment Canada pointed out that daytime highs will be 10 to 15 C above seasonal values while overnight lows will also be five to 10 C above what is normally experienced this time of year.
This stretch of weather, in turn, has intensified flood and fire risks.
The entire city of Fort St. John remains on evacuation alert, with residents being asked to prepare to leave at a moment’s notice.
More than 20,000 people are now under evacuation alert, and between 8,500 and 10,000 others have been ordered to leave their homes due to the fires.
Meanwhile, about 20 small rural and First Nations communities have been ordered to pack up and go.
Here is a list of the remaining temperature records for Monday, May 15:
- Abbotsford, where the heat reached 31.6 C, breaking an old record of 30.2 C set in 2006
- Aggasiz set a new record of 33.2 C breaking an old record of 32 C set in 2006
- Bella Bella set a new record of 30.1 C breaking its old record of 25 C set in 2014
- Blue River set a new record of 32 C surpassing the previous record of 30 C set in 1973
- Burns Lake set a new record of 31.9 C breaking a record of 25.6 C set in 1959
- Clearwater set a new record of 34 C, breaking a record of 33.3 C set in 1939
- Clinton set a preliminary new record of 28.8 C breaking a record of 27 C set in 2018
- Comox set a new record of 30.1 C, breaking a record of 26.5 C set in 2006
- Dawson Creek set a new record of 31.1 C, breaking a record of 27.8 C set in 1959
- Fort St. John set a new record of 31 C, breaking an old record of 27.8 C set in 1959
- Lillooet set a record of 34.4 C, breaking an old record of 33.9 C set in 1925
- Mackenzie set a new record of 32.4 C, breaking a record of 26.7 C set in 1973
- Merritt set a new record of 32.9 C, breaking a record of 32 C set in 2006
- Nakusp saw temperatures reach 30 C, breaking an old record of 28.8 C set in 2018
- Pitt Meadows set a new record of 33.1 C, breaking a record of 30 C set in 1895
- Port Alberni set a new record of 34.3 C, breaking an old record of 30 C set in 2006
- Port Hardy set a new record of 27.2 C, breaking a record of 22.4 C set in 2006
- Powell River set a new record of 30.2 C, breaking an old record of 26 C set in 2018
- Prince George set a new record of 30.7 C, breaking a record of 27.8 C set in 1925
- Prince Rupert set a record of 22.9 C, breaking an old record of 21.1 C set in 1921
- Sandspit set a new record of 19.8 C, breaking the old record of 17 C set in 2011
- Sechelt set a new record of 30.6 C breaking a record of 26.1 C set in 2014
- Smithers set a new record of 29.5 C breaking a record of 22.8 C set in 1952
- Squamish set a new record of 34.3 C breaking a record of 31.5 set in 2006
Records in this area have been kept since 1960 - Terrace set a new record of 29.5 C, breaking the old record of 28.3 C set in 1925
- Victoria Harbour set a new record of 30.3 C, breaking a record of 26.1 C set in 1895
- West Vancouver set a new record of 30.3 C breaking the record of 26.7 C set in 2007
- Whistler set a preliminary new record of 31.7 C, breaking a record of 27.6 C set in 2006
- Williams Lake set a new record of 28.8 C, breaking a record of 26.1 C set in 1973
- Yoho set a new record of 28.3 C, breaking an old record of 26.1 C set in 1973
– with files from Global News’ Amy Judd
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