Preliminary data from Environment and Climate Change Canada shows the following eight regions set new record highs for July 29:
Cache Creek Area – new record 41.2, old record 39.2 set in 2018 Clinton County – new record 34.7, old record 33.3 set in 2018 Kamloops area – new record 37.9, old record 37.6 set in 1998 Lillooet area – new record 40.1, old record 39.8 set in 2018 Lytton Area – new record 42.2, old record 41.4 set in 2018 Merritt Area – new record 37.2, old record 37 set in 2003 Nelson area – new record 38.6, old record 38.5 set in 2003 Trail area – new record 40, old record 39.3 set in 2014
For Lytton and Clinton, the latest highs represent the third consecutive record days. For Cache Creek, Friday was the third record day in the last four.
Armel Castellan, a meteorologist and emergency planner for the ECCC, told CTV News more record temperatures are possible Sunday and Monday as the heat wave extends. Temperatures are expected to start dropping Monday, but many areas in the Interior won’t see daytime highs in the 30s until Wednesday or even Thursday in the southeastern part of the province, Castellan said. The daily temperature records are considered preliminary because they haven’t gone through Environment Canada’s quality assurance and quality control process, which typically takes several weeks, according to Castellan. He said there is “always a small chance” of weather sensors malfunctioning, but it is very rare that preliminary records are overturned. Castellan stressed that when temperatures begin to drop, the effects of heat-related illnesses can continue. He encouraged BC residents to continue checking on vulnerable people in their lives throughout the next week. Most of the province has been under a heat warning since Monday, July 25, and Castellan said he expected the warnings to remain in place over the weekend, with temperatures falling from north to south and west to east through of the province to start on Monday night or Tuesday. As temperatures drop, unstable air has the potential to lead to thunderstorms, increasing the likelihood of new fires in the wake of the heat wave, Castellan said.
