Extract from ABC News
Temperatures have soared to all-time highs in parts of Canada as a record heatwave also affecting the upper US north-west blistered the country.
Key points:
- Canada's average temperature this time of year is about 24C
- The extreme heat has been attributed to a dome of atmospheric high pressure over the region
- Temperatures on Monday local time were set to exceed records set just the day before
The mercury reached 46.6 degrees Celsius on Sunday in Lytton, a village in British Columbia, marking a new all-time high recorded in Canada.
In parts of Vancouver, teams worked to set up extreme heat shelters to offer refuge to those living without air conditioning.
Others cooled off at the beach and at local splash parks.
"This is unseasonably warm but we will take it though — sometimes we get snow in June so we will take the sun when we can get it," Calgary resident Ramit Kar said.
Canada's average temperature around this time of year is significantly cooler, typically around 24C.
The extreme heat has been attributed to a dome of atmospheric high pressure over the region, similar to conditions that punished California and south-western states a week earlier.
"A heat dome is essentially a huge high-pressure ridge, we get sinking air around a high pressure and that basically acts like a cap locking in and cooking the air below," CBC meteorologist Johanna Wagstaffe said, adding, "This is something nobody has seen before, how strong this heat dome is."
North-west US scorched by hottest day yet
The cities of Portland and Salem in Oregon and Seattle in Washington set new temperature records on Monday
In Salem, Oregon's state capital, temperatures reached 47.2C, the hottest since record-keeping began in the 1890s.
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport set an all-time high temperature of 41.1C, breaking the record set one day earlier. Portland also broke the previous day's record of 45C at the airport.
The temperatures were unheard of in a region better known for rain, and where June has historically been referred to as 'Juneuary' for its cool drizzle.
"To put it in perspective, today will likely go down in history as the hottest day ever recorded for places such as Seattle and Portland," the National Weather Service said in its forecast for the region.
Seattle's average high
temperature in June is around 21.1C and fewer than half of the city's
residents have air conditioning, according to US Census data.
The heat forced schools and businesses to close to protect workers and guests, including some places like outdoor pools and ice cream shops where people seek relief from the heat.
In closing one public pool, Seattle's parks department warned that "swimmers will burn their feet" on the deck.
"We unfortunately are unable to open up shop today due to the extreme heat," Cloud City Ice Cream, in Portland, posted on its Facebook page over the weekend.
"Temperatures are too high for our employees and equipment to operate safely."
Heat disrupts infrastructure, services and businesses
The blistering heat exposed a region with infrastructure not designed for it, hinting at the greater costs of climate change to come.
"It's completely shutting down our life; my kids are stuck inside," said Jake Edgar, 30, a chef at a Portland restaurant.
In Portland, light rail and streetcar service was suspended as power cables melted and as the heat strained the power grid.
On Interstate 5 in Tukwila, Washington, heat-related expansion of the roadway caused a panel of pavement to pop loose.
Workers in tanker trucks in Seattle were hosing down drawbridges with water at least twice a day to keep them cool to prevent the steel from expanding in the heat and interfering with their opening and closing mechanisms.
In many cities in the region, officials opened cooling centres, including one in an Amazon meeting space in Seattle capable of holding 1,000 people.
Officials also reminded residents where pools, splash pads and cooling centres were available and urged people to stay hydrated, check on their neighbours and avoid strenuous activities.
The closure of school buildings halted programs such as meal services for the needy, child care and summer enrichment activities.
In Multnomah County, Oregon, which includes Portland, nearly 60 outreach teams have worked since Friday to reach homeless people with water, electrolytes and information on keeping cool, said county spokeswoman Julie Sullivan-Springhetti.
The county had 43 emergency department and urgent care clinic visits for heat illness from Friday to Sunday.
Typically, there would be just one or two, Ms Sullivan-Springhetti said.
The heat was heading east, where temperatures in Boise, Idaho, were expected to top 38C for at least seven days starting Monday.
In eastern Washington state, the Richland and Kennewick school districts halted bus service for summer school because the vehicles aren't air-conditioned, making it unsafe for students to travel in them.
Experts say individual extreme weather events such as the heatwaves that have descended on parts of the US this year cannot be linked directly to climate change.
But more unusual weather patterns could become more common amid rising global temperatures, weather service meteorologist Eric Schoening told Reuters in an interview this month.
ABC/wires
No comments:
Post a Comment