BC's Temperatures Keep Going Up

Photo Credit: Stephen Rees via Flickr

Despite attempts to minimize climate change, extreme weather has become more common on Canada’s west coast, most noticeably with summers being hotter and more humid than it has been historically.

During the summer of 2021, residents of British Columbia experienced intense heat waves, with temperatures reaching higher than 30 degrees Celsius. In Lytton, BC, the temperature was measured to be a high of 49.6 degrees Celsius on June 29, 2021, the highest temperature ever recorded in Canada, according to Environment Canada. The next day, the town of Lytton burned down, forcing citizens to evacuate. During the wildfire, two people died in an attempt to escape from their town. 

For those living in Greater Vancouver, many quickly noticed the smoky air and dry environment. During this heatwave, many people in BC died from heatstroke, and 96 per cent of these heatwave deaths were in people’s own homes. 

Western Canada “need[s] to adapt to a hotter future,” stated Joseph Shea, an associate professor in environmental geomatics at the University of Northern British Columbia, in an interview with the CBC. Shea also mentioned that heat domes, like the one in 2021, are becoming more and more frequent.

“Heat waves are sometimes referred to as the deadliest of natural disasters — because they are something that people don't focus on,” said Andreanne Doyon on CBC. Doyon is an assistant professor in the School of Resource and Environmental Management at Simon Fraser University.

Hot weather often leads to heat exhaustion and heat strokes. Those who are at higher risk of heat exhaustion or stroke include seniors, those living alone, those living in poverty, homeless people, pregnant people, and young children. In BC, 9.8 per cent of residents lived in poverty, according to Statistics Canada.

“It is disabled people, particularly those of us below the poverty line, and elderly people, who are the sacrificial lambs,” Gabrielle Peters, a disabled writer and policy analyst who sits on the City of Vancouver’s advisory planning commission, said to the Vancouver Sun. 

With the rising temperatures, there is a higher risk of droughts, due to the drying out of soil and vegetation. There has also been an uptick in fires, with this year already having 2,619 fires as of June 14, 36 per cent more than average, according to the National Wildfire Fire Situation Report.