B.C. set 8 more temperature records on Friday, according to Environment Canada

For the fourth day in a row, several B.C. communities set high-temperature records on Friday.

Preliminary data from Environment and Climate Change Canada shows the following eight areas recorded new record highs for July 29:

• Cache Creek area – new record of 41.2, old record of 39.2 set in 2018
• Clinton area – new record of 34.7, old record of 33.3 set in 2018
• Kamloops area – new record of 37.9, old record of 37.6 set in 1998
• Lillooet area – new record of 40.1, old record of 39.8 set in 2018
• Lytton area – new record of 42.2, old record of 41.4 set in 2018
• Merritt area – new record of 37.2, old record of 37 set in 2003
• Nelson area – new record of 38.6, old record of 38.5 set in 2003
• Trail area – new record of 40, old record of 39.3 set in 2014

For Lytton and Clinton, the latest highs represent the third consecutive days on which a record was set. For Cache Creek, Friday was the third record-setting day in the last four.

Armel Castellan, a meteorologist and emergency planner for ECCC, told CTV News more temperature records are possible on Sunday and Monday as the heat wave stretches on.

Temperatures are expected to begin cooling off on Monday, but many areas in the Interior won't see daily highs drop out of the 30s until Wednesday, or even Thursday in the southeastern part of the province, Castellan said. 

Daily temperature records are considered preliminary because they haven't gone through Environment Canada's quality assurance and quality control process, which typically takes several weeks, according to Castellan. He said there's "always a little bit of a chance" that weather sensors are malfunctioning, but it's very rare for preliminary records to be overturned.

Castellan stressed that when temperatures begin to decline, the effects of heat-related illness can continue. He encouraged B.C. residents to continue to check on vulnerable people in their lives throughout the coming week.

Most of the province has been under a heat warning since Monday, July 25, and Castellan said he expects the warnings to remain in place through the long weekend, with the decline in temperatures proceeding from north to south and west to east through the province beginning Monday night or Tuesday.

As temperatures fall, unstable air has the potential to lead to thunderstorms, increasing the likelihood of new wildfires in the wake of the heat wave, Castellan said.