Lytton, British Columbia — which had Canada’s all-time recorded high of 121 degrees Fahrenheit during the June 2021 heat wave and then burned to the ground a day later — was one of several communities to set new daily records this week.
Temperatures last weekend spiked to record-setting levels in the U.S. Pacific Northwest, at the edge of the high pressure pattern, where Seattle recorded highs in the upper 80s and set new temperature highs four days in a row, according to the National Weather Service. The bayside town of Hoquiam, Washington, reached 91 degrees, a stunning mark for an area that usually has moderate temperatures because of its proximity to the Pacific Ocean.
“Last weekend was definitely anomalous, especially for May,” said Kayla Mazurkiewicz, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Seattle, who noted that the high pressure system has remained centered over western Canada. “That pattern was directly over that area. That’s why they’ve gotten the brunt of it.”
The heat wave in June 2021 was also caused by a ridge of high pressure. It contributed to more than 860 deaths in British Columbia, Washington and Oregon, according to research published in Nature Communications.
Climate researchers determined the anomalous heat would be “virtually impossible” if not for the impacts of climate change.
Nathan Gillett, a research scientist with Environment and Climate Change Canada who contributed to that research, said what’s happening this month is an “extreme event” but less so in comparison to 2021. Gillett said researchers were considering a new, detailed climate attribution study of the recent heat wave.
“The risk of these kinds of heat waves everywhere has been induced by human-caused climate change,” Gillett said.
The hot weather has made fire danger in Alberta extreme. More than 2,500 wildland firefighters are working in the province, which reported that 19,576 had been evacuated from the areas where about 90 fires were burning.
The wildfires could affect global energy prices. Wildfires forced some Canadian shale operators to halt work this month, according to Rystad Energy, an independent energy research firm. Rystad estimated that at least 240,000 barrels of oil could not be pumped each day because of outages. Production of 2.7 million barrels of oil each day is within areas in “very high” or “extreme” wildfire danger rating zones, according to a special market update from company Vice President Thomas Liles.
