Heat, hydro records; 911 calls; wildfires and air quality: B.C. heat wave wrapped
It was a record-breaking three days across B.C., with dozens of daily temperature records falling every day, including 17 on Saturday, 33 on Sunday and 37 on Monday, when the early season heat wave peaked.
While temperatures dipped in the Lower Mainland Tuesday, a heat warning is still in effect for the North Coast, and a special weather statement for unseasonably warm temperatures still covers part of the Interior.
Multiple B.C. communities saw heat records broken on all three days, including Agassiz, Comox, Dawson Creek, Mackenzie, Pitt Meadows, Sechelt, Squamish, Victoria, West Vancouver and Whistler.
The hottest the province, and the country, got was 36.5 C in Lytton on Monday.
Many of the fallen records were surpassed by several degrees, such as in Pemberton, which reached 35.9 C on Monday, soaring past its previous record of 30.0 C for May 15.
And some of the records were truly historical, such as in the Victoria Harbour area, which beat a 128-year-old high Monday, reaching 30.3 C versus 1895’s 26.1 C.
But the temperatures were not the only area B.C. broke records in during the heat wave. As BC Hydro predicted, peak hourly demand for electricity reached an all-time high for the month of May on Monday between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m.
BC Hydro attributes the province’s record-breaking electricity use to British Columbians cranking up the air-conditioning and fans as the heat wave peaked, using nearly 7,600 megawatts of power during that hour.
The weather prompted an air quality advisory to be issued in Metro Vancouver Monday, as ground-level ozone levels rose due to the heat, putting those with respiratory issues at higher risk. The advisory was lifted Tuesday afternoon.
The heat also brought a substantial increase in 911 calls over the weekend, with operators receiving 61 per cent more calls than this time last year. Thirty-eight calls were for heat-related illness over the weekend, compared to just 10 in the entire month of May last year.
In addition, soaring temperatures exacerbated wildfires in Northern B.C., with the area burnt several times higher than the 10-year average for this time of year. Two out-of-control fires near Fort St. John put the city on evacuation alert Monday.
The full list of temperature records set on Monday, May 15, follows below:
Abbotsford
New record of 31.6 C
Old record of 30.2 C set in 2006
Records in this area have been kept since 1944
Agassiz
New record of 33.2 C
Old record of 32.0 C set in 2006
Records in this area have been kept since 1889
Bella Bella
New record of 30.1 C
Old record of 25.0 C set in 2014
Records in this area have been kept since 1977
Blue River
New record of 32.0 C
Old record of 30.0 C set in 1973
Records in this area have been kept since 1946
Burns Lake
New record of 31.9 C
Old record of 25.6 C set in 1959
Records in this area have been kept since 1949
Cache Creek
New record of 35.0 C
Old record of 33.0 C set in 2018
Records in this area have been kept since 1944
Clearwater
New record of 34.0 C
Old record of 33.3 C set in 1939
Records in this area have been kept since 1913
Clinton
New record of 28.8 C
Old record of 27.0 C set in 2018
Records in this area have been kept since 1974
Comox
New record of 30.1 C
Old record of 26.5 C set in 2006
Records in this area have been kept since 1914
Dawson Creek
New record of 31.1 C
Old record of 27.8 C set in 1959
Records in this area have been kept since 1926
Fort St. John
New record of 31.0 C
Old record of 27.8 C set in 1959
Records in this area have been kept since 1910
Kamloops
New record of 32.2 C
Old record of 31.1 C set in 1924
Records in this area have been kept since 1890
Kelowna
New record of 32.1 C
Old record of 31.3 C set in 2018
Records in this area have been kept since 1899
Lillooet
New record of 34.4 C
Old record of 33.9 C set in 1925
Records in this area have been kept since 1917
Lytton
New record of 36.5 C
Old record of 33.9 C set in 1949
Records in this area have been kept since 1921
Mackenzie
New record of 32.4 C
Old record of 26.7 C set in 1973
Records in this area have been kept since 1971
Merritt
New record of 32.9 C
Old record of 32.0 C set in 2006
Records in this area have been kept since 1918
Nakusp
New record of 30.0 C
Old record of 28.8 C set in 2018
Records in this area have been kept since 1966
Pemberton
New record of 35.9 C
Old record of 30.0 C set in 1925
Records in this area have been kept since 1908
Pitt Meadows
New record of 33.1 C
Old record of 30.0 C set in 1895
Records in this area have been kept since 1874
Port Alberni
New record of 34.3 C
Old record of 30.0 C set in 2006
Records in this area have been kept since 1900
Port Hardy
New record of 27.2 C
Old record of 22.4 C set in 2006
Records in this area have been kept since 1944
Powell River
New record of 30.2 C
Old record of 26.0 C set in 2018
Records in this area have been kept since 1924
Prince George
New record of 30.7 C
Old record of 27.8 C set in 1925
Records in this area have been kept since 1912
Prince Rupert
New record of 22.9 C
Old record of 21.1 C set in 1921
Records in this area have been kept since 1908
Sandspit
New record of 19.8 C
Old record of 17.0 C set in 2011
Records in this area have been kept since 1945
Sechelt
New record of 30.6 C
Old record of 26.1 C set in 2014
Records in this area have been kept since 1956
Smithers
New record of 29.5 C
Old record of 22.8 C set in 1952
Records in this area have been kept since 1938
Squamish
New record of 34.3 C
Old record of 31.5 C set in 2006
Records in this area have been kept since 1960
Terrace
New record of 29.5 C
Old record of 28.3 C set in 1925
Records in this area have been kept since 1912
Vancouver
New record of 24.3 C
Old record of 24.2 C set in 1997
Records in this area have been kept since 1896
Victoria
New record of 29.5 C
Old record of 25.9 C set in 2006
Records in this area have been kept since 1914
Victoria Harbour
New record of 30.3 C
Old record of 26.1 C set in 1895
Records in this area have been kept since 1874
West Vancouver
New record of 30.3 C
Old record of 26.7 C set in 2007
Records in this area have been kept since 1976
Whistler
New record of 31.7 C
Old record of 27.6 C set in 2006
Records in this area have been kept since 1950
Williams Lake
New record of 28.8 C
Old record of 26.1 C set in 1973
Records in this area have been kept since 1960
Yoho National Park
New record of 28.3 C
Old record of 26.1 C set in 1973
Records in this area have been kept since 1923
Environment and Climate Change Canada notes that the heat records are based on preliminary data and do not constitute a complete or final report.
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