Dozens of sudden-death calls that Vancouver authorities have received this week are believed to be tied to the dangerous heatwave currently scorching Canada and pushing temperatures to record levels, an event experts say is a direct result of the human-caused climate emergency.
On Tuesday, the temperature hit 49.6°C (121°F) in Lytton, British Columbia, an all-time high and the third consecutive day that Canada heat has crushed records.
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“Before this heatwave, the Canadian national heat record stood at 45°C. This record held since July 1937,” meteorologist Scott Duncan noted in a series of tweets. “Along came 27 [June] and smashed this by a whopping +1.6°C. But we were not done here, the heatwave was just getting started. The very next day, temperatures soared to a staggering 47.9°C, destroying the new record. This did not last long though…”
“And here we are,” Duncan added. “Almost 50°C at 50 degrees north. This is desert heat in Canada. We have never seen this level of heat this far north anywhere on Planet Earth until now.”
Pointing to the alarming new figures, Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg said that “heat records are usually broken by tenths of a degree — not 4.6°C.”
“We’re in a climate emergency that has never once been treated as an emergency,” Thunberg added.
Source: Truthout