July was another month of record-breaking heat for the mid-Island, with a warmer mean temperature overall and a number of daily heat records broken. (Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

heating up

Hot and dry July ends wet, with August heat wave drying things up again

Aug 1, 2024 | 2:08 PM

NANAIMO — The mid-Island is setting more heat records this summer.

With a mean temperature of 20.0 degrees Celcius, July 2024 ranks as the sixth warmest July in the Harbour City’s history, with records dating back to 1892. The average mean temperature for the month is 18.1 degrees,

Matt Loney, meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada said it was also an extremely dry month despite a few days of rainfall near the end.

“Towards the end of the month we were running pretty dry, but then things caught up right at the end of the month. The total for the month was 12.8 millimetres, that’s below the normal of 25.4, so just about half as much rainfall as normal.”

July produced conditions to surpass daily-heat records set in July of 2023, which was the twelfth warmest on record, but resulted in 61 per cent of the region’s average rainfall.

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July 5 reached 33.4, beating the old record of 31.8 set only last year.

July 7 and 9 both reached 33.3 degrees, topping previous records of 32.2, set in 2010 and 1952 respectively.

Qualicum Beach also set some daily heat records last month.

On July 7, the mercury reached 30.6 in Qualicum Beach, with the old record of 29.1 set in 2010.

A temperature of 31.4 on July 9 was also a new daily high.

Qualicum Beach also went beyond the 30-degree mark on July 16, 17, and 20, all good to beat previous records by at least one degree or more.

Loney said an existing high-pressure system sitting over the region caused Environment Canada to issue heat warnings for much of eastern Vancouver Island, expected to remain in place over the long weekend.

He said the amount of moisture in the air is what makes this “stretch of above-normal temperatures” unique.

“What this air mass has that’s relatively notable, is that the humidity is a bit higher than normal. Overnight lows are going to be between 15-17 degrees, normal low is around 13, that’s good enough to prompt a heat warning for the next several days with humidex in the mid-30s during the day time.”

He said the lack of cooler temperatures overnight can make it difficult to recuperate from the heat.

Looking ahead at the rest of August, while Loney said it’s too early to say for sure, the entire province should expect the trend of above-normal temperatures to continue.

“If you look at precipitation, that’s kind of split north/south, with the south being a little wetter than normal or around normal, and the north would be below normal. So I guess that implies we might be playing catch up towards the end of the month like we did in July in terms of precipitation, but again, that’s way too far in the future to really know for certain.”

The hot and dry july followed a soggy June, where nearly 60 millimeters of rain fell on the mid Island, well above normal.

The City of Nanaimo has a number of ways to avoid the heat available here on its website.

The Regional District of Nanaimo‘s website includes a list of available cooling spaces open during this hot stretch.

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jordan@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @JordanDHeyNow