The month of June was dry across most of B.C. and was the driest June on record since 2015.
The rain gauge at Vancouver’s International Airport recorded less than 20 millimetres of rain on only four days of the month.
The average for the month is 54 millimetres over 11 and a half days.
Overall, since record-keeping began, this was the 17th driest June ever recorded.
This is on the heels of many seasons of precipitation deficit. Most of the province, including Vancouver was drier than average through 2022 and 2023 continued with that trend. All but one month so far this year has been drier than average at the Vancouver Airport.
In addition, this year’s snowpack melted nearly a month earlier than average and now the province is heading into the two driest months of the year.
All of these factors are leading to concerns about further drought, reservoir levels by late summer and a worsening forest fire season.
June 29, 2023 also marks the highest temperature ever recorded in Canada in Lytton, B.C. on June 29, 2021.
Environment and Climate Change Canada said the village broke the record of the hottest temperature ever recorded in the country three days in a row, setting a new Canadian record high temperature of 49.6 °C on Tuesday, June 29, 2021.
“The temperature of 49.6 °C broke the previous record of the highest temperature ever recorded in Canada of 45.0 °C, which had stood for 86 years from Yellowgrass and Midale in Saskatchewan,” the organization said in a statement.
“It also set a new world record for the highest temperature ever recorded above latitude 45N, beating the previous record of 49.4 °C (121 °F) set in Steele, North Dakota, in July 1936.”
More than 1,000 daily temperatures were shattered across western Canada from June 24 to July 4, 2021. In addition, more than 100 records were marked between 40 °C and 50 °C and some by 12 degrees higher than the previous record. Daytime highs were 15 °C to 25 °C above normal, with little reprieve at night as temperatures did not fall much below 20 °C according to Environment and Climate Change Canada.
Most of the village of Lytton remains in ruins after a fast-moving wildfire roared through the community on June 30, 2021.
The Village of Lytton, B.C., and the Thompson-Nicola Regional District are suing Canada’s two national railways and Transport Canada, alleging they were negligent to let trains pass through the town during the deadly 2021 heat dome, before the community was razed by wildfire.
The lawsuit says a train passed through the village 18 minutes before the first report of a fire near the tracks that eventually destroyed 90 per cent of the town’s buildings and scorched an additional 837 square kilometres of land.
In a notice of civil claim filed in B.C. Supreme Court on June 16, lawyers for Lytton and the district allege Canadian National and Canadian Pacific railways continued to operate in late June 2021, despite record-setting heat and an extreme wildfire danger.
— with files from The Canadian Press
Comments