Sub-tropical heat wave shatters temperature records across British Columbia

VANCOUVER – British Columbia didn’t quite live up to pre-Canada Day predictions of all-time record shattering heat, but while the mark for the highest-ever Canadian temperature was not reached over the long weekend, the sizzling weather fried many local records.

In all, Environment Canada lists 15 new heat records set on Canada Day in communities from the south coast to the north and southeastern corners of B-C.

At 36.7 degrees, Merritt broke the oldest record of 35 degrees, set in 1924, but other long-standing records fell in Quesnel and Prince George, where the cities reached respective highs of 36.1 and 33.5 degrees, breaking records that have stood since 1942.

The 29.5 degree temperature posted at the Abbotsford Airport on Canada broke the 1967 record by one-tenth of a degree, but Abbotsford was the only city on the record-breaking list that didn’t reach at least 31 degrees.

Creston, Sparwood, Blue River, Clinton, Chetwynd, Dawson Creek, Pitt Meadows, Squamish, Whistler, Pemberton and Powell River all ranged between 31.1 degrees in Powell River and 36.5 in Pemberton.

Forecasters had predicted the sub-tropical heat wave would smash Canada’s all-time high temperature of 44.4 degrees set in Lytton and Lillooet in 1941, but while Lytton reached a steamy 40.3 degrees on Canada Day, making it a hot spot for the country, the Fraser Canyon village didn’t break its all-time high, or even its daily record.