Mist nozzles attached to a canopy at Maffeo Sutton Park offers a brief cool-down for people forced to deal with a rare and powerful extended heat wave. (Spencer Sterritt/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

SUMMER SIZZLE

80-year-old Nanaimo temperature record barely survives sweltering weekend

Jun 28, 2021 | 1:15 PM

NANAIMO — A suffocating heat wave across a majority of B.C. is setting new records in Nanaimo, while also threatening a long standing all-time high.

Nanaimo Airport recorded four consecutive heat records since Friday, June 25, including Sunday’s 38.2 degrees setting a new all-time record for the hottest temperature in June in the Harbour City.

The previous hottest day ever in June in Nanaimo was 34.6 degrees in 2015.

Nanaimo’s hottest temperature ever recorded is 40.6 degrees set in July 1941.

All official Environment Canada weather data is gauged at Nanaimo Airport, however a weather station at VIU, operated by NanaimoWeather.ca, hit 40 degrees on Sunday.

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Environment Canada Meteorologist Dave Wray told NanaimoNewsNOW he and his colleagues are astounded by consistently hot temperatures covering much of B.C.

“This is unprecedented,” Wray said. “All of the weather elements and variables lined up just right to create conditions such as these that we’ve never really seen before.”

Lytton, B.C. in the Fraser Canyon established an all-time national heat record on Sunday with 46.6 degrees, while Wray noted the temperature will likely be even hotter in that community Monday.

Wray said Monday will be the hottest day Nanaimo has seen during this extended heat wave, with the temperature potentially reaching 42 degrees away from the ocean.

“We’re seeing temperatures that are 15 to 16 degrees above seasonal normals and a good five to seven degrees above previous years’ records. It’s unprecedented,” Wray said.

The soaring temperatures have seen air conditioners sell out at most major retailers, fans fly off shelves and ice a hot commodity at local gas stations.

Local lakes, rivers, water parks and the ocean have been popular places for people to cool down.

Nanaimo Ladysmith Public Schools recommended students stay home on Monday, while a scheduled COVID vaccination clinic on Gabriola Island was postponed Monday.

WorkSafeBC issued a statement Monday afternoon advising employers to consider closing their workplaces if employees can’t be protected from the risk of heat stress.

Sweltering heat is expected to continue regionally through Tuesday, before easing as the week progresses with temperatures remaining a few degrees above average for this time of year.

With summer only one week old, Wray is confident a few more blocking ridge patterns will blast more hot air to the south coast in the weeks and months ahead.

“I don’t think we’ll meet these kinds of numbers again, but we’ll certainly have a few more stretches of above normal temperatures through the end of September.”

Long term forecasts continue to confidently predict above normal temperatures through the summer months, with Environment Canada modelling suggesting a warm, dry September too.

Health officials recommend people avoid outdoor strenuous excercise, wear sunscreen, seek shade and an air conditioned space if possible and drink plenty of water.

The current heat wave follows one the driest springs ever recorded in Nanaimo.

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