When It Hits 121 Degrees... In Canada

 

 

We, our children and grandchildren are in for a world of hurt heat:

The all-time high of 121 degrees set in British Columbia on Tuesday has left weather and climate experts all over the world shocked, speechless and deeply concerned about the future of the planet.

The scorching temperature set in the village of Lytton obliterated Canada’s previous national temperature record, established before this week’s heat wave, by 8 degrees. 

Lytton, located about 60 miles northeast of Vancouver, broke that previous all-time record of 113 on three straight days, soaring to 116 on Sunday, 118 on Monday and finally 121 on Tuesday. Before this siege, it had stood since 1937.

“To break a national heat record by more than 8F over three days … words fail,” tweeted Bob Henson, a meteorologist and freelance journalist.

How really bad is it?

• It’s hotter than any temperature recorded in the Lower 48 states outside the Desert Southwest. Only four states have seen a higher temperature. It’s even 4 degrees above Las Vegas’s all-time high of 117 and just one degree from Phoenix’s all-time high of 122.
• It’s hotter than any temperature observed in Europe or South America, according to world weather records expert Maximiliano Herrera. Only 26 countries on the planet have been as hot or hotter, he wrote.
• It is the most extreme high temperature observed north of 45 degrees latitude, according to Herrera.
• It was the highest temperature in North America on Tuesday, tied with Death Valley, Calif., notorious for holding the record for the planet’s most extreme heat.
• Lytton’s average high temperature at this time of year is a mere 77 degrees, meaning Tuesday’s record high was nearly 45 degrees above normal.

Why was it so hot there, and what does it say about the future?

“Lytton was the perfect spot (in a manner of speaking) to break this record three days in a row,” Mersereau wrote. “The tiny town sits in a tight valley along the Fraser River that cuts longitudinally through the heart of British Columbia. Lytton’s low-lying location makes it an effective heat sink during a record-shattering heat wave.”

Scott Duncan, a meteorologist based in London, was flabbergasted by the record. “I didn’t think it was possible, not in my lifetime anyway,” he tweeted. “This moment will be talked about for centuries.”

But, as climate change increases the likelihood of exceptional temperatures like this, it’s only a matter of time before even more extreme records are set, replied Robert Brulle, a professor at Brown University who specializes in environmental politics and climate change.

“It won’t be talked about for centuries,” he tweeted. “These records will fall as climate change accelerates! This is just a mild version of what we can expect in the future.”

A "mild version" of what the future holds.   

Unless... 

We fight like hell to get the Biden climate change proposals in the reconciliation bill.  We need to exceed the targets for greenhouse gas emission reduction in the Paris Climate Agreement. Even then, it's hard to imagine not hitting the climate change "tipping point" that looms nearer and nearer, while so much time has been wasted by fools and fanatics.

(Photo:  Vancouver, B.C., broils/ Don Mackinnon/AFP)