In the midst of BC’s current heatwave, the heat has begun to climb to absurd temperatures, with today projected to be even hotter than this past weekend.
To say it’s hot would be an understatement.
According to NASA, the planet’s average surface temperature has risen about 1.18 degrees Celsius since the late 19th century.
The majority of the warming has occurred in the past 40 years with 2016 and 2020 tied for the warmest year on record.
There is a 90% likelihood of at least one year between 2021-2025 becoming the warmest on record, according to the Global Annual to Decadal Climate Update.
That means, according to experts, this has the potential to actually be the coolest summer in the next four years…
The great thing about this meme is that it’ll be relevant every summer pic.twitter.com/xvHdYWVI2j
— Read Let This Radicalize You (@JoshuaPHilll) June 24, 2021
Yikes.
Well, one thing is for sure, and that’s that Vancouver Island, and especially Victoria, broke heat records this weekend, and may have the potential to break even more today.
With data from Environment Canada, see the difference between the heat-records before and after this last weekend:
-
Victoria’s Inner Harbour
New record of 38.3
Old record of 27.8 set in 1951
Records in this area have been kept since 1874 -
Gonzalez/Hartland
New record of 38.3
Old record of 27.8 set in 1951 -
Victoria (University of) Area
New record of 38.3
Old record of 27.8 set in 1951 -
Esquimalt Area
New record of 38.3
Old record of 27.8 set in 1951 -
Comox Area
New record of 38.0
Old record of 31.1 set in 2015 -
Courtenay Area
New record of 38.0
Old record of 31.1 set in 2015 -
Malahat Area
New record of 38.2
Old record of 32.6 set in 2015 -
Port Hardy Area
New record of 30.2
Old record of 21.3 set in 1995 -
Port Alberni Area
New record of 41.3
Old record of 37.0 set in 2015