[james4beach]

One has to take the heat seriously, it can be deadly. Police in the Greater Vancouver area are reporting roughly 100 sudden / excess deaths over the last three days, they are not diagnosed but very likely due to the heatwave.

Two keys to handling high heat

(1) stay hydrated. If your pee is dark yellow, you aren't drinking enough water. A problem with hydration is that you have to "stay ahead" of the situation because once you get dehydrated it can be challenging to catch up. So as soon as the heat arrives, start drinking water aggressively and calibrate using the pee colour.

(2) reduce and relieve body temperature. Cold showers are good, but it's even better to immerse yourself in a cold bathtub, since immersion will really help drop your body's temperature. Other tricks are soaking a shirt in cold water and wearing that, or soaking a hat, or soaking a towel in cold water and wrapping that around your head/body.

Avoid alcohol, since it does not help with handling heat. Also think of places you can escape to. I don't have air conditioning, but my apartment building has AC in the lobby, and the stairwells and parking garage are also very cool.

 

[AltaRed]

Except for the pool and being out early morning and late evening. we are staying indoors. Central A/C has been running non-stop here in the Okanagan since about Noon. Currently 44C at 5:50pm. We are used to hot summers but not quite at this level.

A number of places have been opened up for those needing relief from the heat, especially our homeless population. I imagine there have been a number of heat related deaths.

 

[Beaver101]

I heard this heatwave is moving easterly ... next stop will be Alberta, then Saskatchewan ... Ontario currently ain't that cool either. Very humid. We're getting torrential rainfall all week, including COTU Toronto. This trend sure looks like global warming.

PS: An electrical fan works well in circulating the air if the AC isn't enough.

 

[andrewf]

Insane weather in BC.

It has been warm in Toronto but only seasonably so. Similar to Vancouver, around low 30s. But most homes here have A/C as the summers are usually quite sweltering. The 40s in the interior are shocking, though! Hopefully it is not too humid.

 

[nathan79]

It's been extremely tragic. They're still discovering more heat-related deaths. Many elderly live alone, so the deceased are only discovered when a relative tries to check up on them.

The official Vancouver temperature on the news is very misleading because it's taken at Vancouver International Airport, which is basically on an island surrounded by the Strait of Georgia. In fact, many areas around Vancouver saw 40C and higher. Abbotsford reached 43C yesterday with a humidex of 50C! That's only 70 km from Vancouver. But you didn't have to go that far... just a few km inland and you had temps close to 40C with humidex values reaching the mid to upper 40's.

 

[gibor365]

And some idiots contribute it to "global warming" LOL
And Canada contributes barely 1.5% to so-call "global warming"....
Same time, in Moscow (one of the biggest contributor to so-call "global warming" now 17C, in Tel Aviv 24C (usually is 35+ this time of year).
Maybe Canada produced too much maple syrup this year LOL

 

[andrewf]

And some idiots contribute it to "global warming" LOL
And Canada contributes barely 1.5% to so-call "global warming"....
Same time, in Moscow (one of the biggest contributor to so-call "global warming" now 17C, in Tel Aviv 24C (usually is 35+ this time of year).
Maybe Canada produced too much maple syrup this year LOL

Honestly, go take it somewhere else. Climate <> weather.

 

[gibor365]

Honestly, go take it somewhere else. Climate <> weather.

That what I'm talking about! Couple of very hot days and greta thunberg's followers start attributing it to "global warming" .
After 2 years of Covid lockdowns and money grab Liberal carbon taxes - it's actually should be "global freezing" 😂

 

[Ukrainiandude]

many areas around Vancouver saw 40C and higher. Abbotsford reached 43C yesterday with a humidex of 50C!

Prohibitively expensive and now also uncomfortable to live.

 

[james4beach]

Except for the pool and being out early morning and late evening. we are staying indoors. Central A/C has been running non-stop here in the Okanagan since about Noon. Currently 44C at 5:50pm. We are used to hot summers but not quite at this level.

Those are insane temperatures. I don't mean to sound alarmist but I also suggest making a back-up plan, in case of power outages. There's got to be a pretty serious load on local transformer substations etc. It might be worth thinking about what to do if there is extended power loss, as unlikely as that may be. Visit someone else? Hide out in your vehicle? Basement?

Depends on what powers your AC of course.

I have some friends in Portland where it got as high as 45, similar to yours. One of my friends told me that his central AC had trouble keeping up and the upper floors were well over 30. So they closed those vents, abandoned the upper part of the house and focused on lower floors and the basement.

 

[james4beach]

The official Vancouver temperature on the news is very misleading because it's taken at Vancouver International Airport, which is basically on an island surrounded by the Strait of Georgia. In fact, many areas around Vancouver saw 40C and higher. Abbotsford reached 43C yesterday with a humidex of 50C! That's only 70 km from Vancouver. But you didn't have to go that far... just a few km inland and you had temps close to 40C with humidex values reaching the mid to upper 40's.

Thanks for posting this. I was wondering what to make of the weather forecasts as well because different forecast sources were showing very different numbers, and it didn't make sense to me.

 

[gibor365]

Those are insane temperatures. I don't mean to sound alarmist but I also suggest making a back-up plan, in case of power outages. There's got to be a pretty serious load on local transformer substations etc. It might be worth thinking about what to do if there is extended power loss, as unlikely as that may be. Visit someone else? Hide out in your vehicle? Basement?

Depends on what powers your AC of course.

I have some friends in Portland where it got as high as 45, similar to yours. One of my friends told me that his central AC had trouble keeping up and the upper floors were well over 30. So they closed those vents, abandoned the upper part of the house and focused on lower floors and the basement.

You will use to it ....I lived in Israel when practically whole summer temperature like BC has now .... All A/C worked and there weren't any "power outages". On the opposite, in Israel we had an issue when couple of times in decade we had snow LOL

Another funny part, that here in Mississauga , just week ago we had night temperature in low single digits and I was concerned about my backyard greenhouse

 

[MrMatt]

Was low 30's and 40's with Humidex here, went for a nice run. Bit humid, but I love this weather.

The thunderstorm was crazy though, temperature dropped almost 10 degrees in less than 15 minutes.

 

[sags]

When the meteorologists said it was equivalent to about 120 degrees Farenheit......it hit home more to me.

Best hope the electrical grid holds up. One of the things about climate change is we need to strengthen our electrical grid and provide backup systems.

 

[AltaRed]

Those are insane temperatures. I don't mean to sound alarmist but I also suggest making a back-up plan, in case of power outages. There's got to be a pretty serious load on local transformer substations etc. It might be worth thinking about what to do if there is extended power loss, as unlikely as that may be. Visit someone else? Hide out in your vehicle? Basement?

Depends on what powers your AC of course.

I have some friends in Portland where it got as high as 45, similar to yours. One of my friends told me that his central AC had trouble keeping up and the upper floors were well over 30. So they closed those vents, abandoned the upper part of the house and focused on lower floors and the basement.

45.7C was the high in Kelowna yesterday (Tuesday). Lytton set another national record at 49.6. It is positioned in the Fraser Valley in a way that the 'bowl' cooks. Our AC was able to keep the house to 26C in late afternoon though it did run non-stop for many hours yesterday. AC is almost a must in the South Central Interior albeit not everyone has it.

BC Hydro and Fortis Power, the two providers of electricity in BC, are setting new 'summer' records for demand, but still under winter peak demand (probably due to electrical heating in Lower Mainland condos?). One issue in the Okanagan, especially on the west side of Okanagan Lake, is there is only one BC Hydro line (with wooden poles) to the west side from the main transmission line that runs through Merritt, some 100+km to the West. Despite municipal demands, BC Hydro has yet to commit to and construct a backup in event of a primary failure, albeit they are warming up to an interconnect via marine cable across the lake to the east side with Fortis Power. Both Fortis and BC Hydro would be well served to interconnect to each other for flexibility with a simple 5km or so marine cable,

 

[Beaver101]

Thought this should be shared even though it's behind a paywall:

Western Canada’s heat dome may be Ontario bound. A climate expert explains what’s next

Extreme conditions coming to Ontario: 'It is unprecedented and it's not going away,' climate expert says

Toronto Star; Toronto, Ont. [Toronto, Ont]30 June 2021: A.3.

Western Canada's record-breaking heat wave is expected to linger for a few more days before migrating eastbound.

Tuesday, Lytton, B.C.'s temperature reached 47.9 C - an all-time high that beat the town's 46.6 C temperature the day before, which was the hottest ever recorded temperature in Canada since Saskatchewan hit 45 C in 1937.

In comparison, Environment Canada issued a heat warning for Toronto on Tuesday, temperatures were expected to reach 31 C in the afternoon with humidex values around 40. That's almost 15 degrees cooler than what Western Canada is experiencing.

"It is extreme, it is unhealthy, it is historically unprecedented and it's not going away," said David Phillips, senior climatologist for Environment and Climate Change Canada.

The reason why Western Canada is experiencing unparalleled heat is because it's under a heat dome. A heat dome is when an area becomes so highly pressurized that it doesn't allow air to escape, it just recirculates and gets squeezed together. This causes air molecules to hit each other rapidly, thus creating more heat.

"It's like taking the Rogers Centre and putting it over a piece of geography stretching from the Arctic Circle to Death Valley," Phillips said.

The heat dome will persist in the West for a few more days before eventually migrating eastward. The dome may travel as far as northern Ontario, but Phillips doesn't think it will be as strong as it is while it looms over the West, nor will it have an effect on Toronto.

"The dynamics of it changes after several days and it won't be the force (by early July) as it was at the end of June," Phillips said.

Things might get worse before they get better. Because of the lack of moisture, Western Canada could see more forest fires caused by dry lightning. The area could also be more susceptible to floods as the heat melts snow off the top of mountains. There's also a chance that hospital admissions will go up as a result of the heat dome.

"It won't be death by heatwave, it never is. It will be by respiratory failure or cardiovascular failure," Phillips said. "But it certainly can weaken people to make them more susceptible to other ailments."

Phillips says Canadians shouldn't be surprised; temperatures have risen annually for years. This is the same heat wave that's hit the country in the past, but with a new personality supercharged by climate change.

"Climate change has not created waves or hurricanes or forest fires. But it contributes to it," Phillips said. "We sometimes think about climate change as being the steroids for weather, it makes the extremes more extreme."

Phillip says there isn't much we can do to radically change the course of our rising temperatures. However, acknowledging that heatwaves, forest fires and floods are going to be more commonplace and preparing for them is a good start.

"We need to learn and do things differently to respect nature," Phillips said. "The lesson coming out of this is to not just think that we can fix or engineer our way out of it in profound ways. No, we need to live in concert with nature."

Climate actions like cutting back on fossil fuels may not stop global temperatures from rising, but Phillips says it could buy us more time. Ultimately, Phillips says the country's infrastructures, policies and strategies need to adapt to accommodate for an inevitably warmer future.

"The safest forecast of all is: stay tuned, expect more of the same. It may have different kinds of elements to it," Phillips said. "This is the future."

... hopefully by the time this future comes about, I won't be around to get roasted.

 

[Beaver101]

^^ I bought a personal hand-crank fan in the event we get a brown/black out. Besides, be able to save some electricity, not that it'll make any difference for the utilities' bottomline either.

 

[sags]

"It feels like the air is on fire" said one resident.

The power grid in Canada is often fragile and it wasn't that many years ago that Ontario was suffering rolling brownouts.

We have had major collapses of the grid in days gone by, with some kind of problem in the US causing a long stretch of blackouts.

I remember my parents emptying out the freezer and upset about the loss of the food. We didn't have a lot of money and there was no insurance.

Take those carbon tax dollars and create some jobs fortifying the electric grid. It should all be underground as much as possible.

Alternative energy would be helpful.....especially solar energy on days like these.

 

[AltaRed]

To some degree, I agree. It depends on how savings are passed on to consumers and/or government agencies et al. If there is a direct relationship that will cut costs, e.g. garbage trucks for municipal waste management service, I think that is a valid use of incentives.

Added: Back to topic at hand, we are on track for another day the same as yesterday. 38C at noon

 

[nathan79]

The heat wave has broke on the south coast. It feels amazing out there today... low 20's currently.