Lower Mainland heatwave breaks records; more hot weather on the way

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Monday’s heatwave broke records across the Lower Mainland.

Meteorologist Michael Kuss says a number of cities across the region, including Abbotsford, Pitt Meadows, White Rock, Whistler, and West Vancouver, saw record highs.

“Monday’s record heat across the Lower Mainland, that’s just a taste,” he said Tuesday, adding temperatures are expected to dip into the mid-20s on Wednesday.

But don’t expect this slight reprieve to last too long.

“The weather that’s on the way for the weekend and early next week — we’re talking about three, four days where we see highs potentially in the mid-30s for eastern Metro Vancouver and out in the Fraser Valley,” he explained.

“The pattern that is setting up for the weekend is something we normally don’t see until late July, early August, where a massive area of high pressure floods across the province, pushing the jetstream up to Yukon, Northwest Territories and draws in some of that warm air all the way from Arizona, Texas, New Mexico. That’s what we’re looking at for the weekend and early next week,” Michael added.

Forecasters have said temperatures will be five to 10 degrees above normal in some areas. The heat had prompted a special weather statement from Environment Canada for Sunday and Monday, though it has since been lifted.

High temperatures on the South Coast and across much of the western U.S. over the last weekend has prompted electric grid concerns, as people crank the air conditioning to get some relief.


Related story: Lower Mainland heatwave brings higher summer temperatures on solstice


BC Hydro prepared for demand for electricity

But BC Hydro says it has more than enough power to meet the increased demand on its system.

“As a result of the extreme temperatures, some states felt the strain on their power grids as residents stayed indoors and cranked up the air conditioning to get some relief,” Mora Scott with BC Hydro explained.

In Texas, 2.4 million homes lost power when some power plants in the state had unexpected outages.

However, BC Hydro doesn’t anticipate such a situation here.

“With high temperatures predicted to B.C. and much of western North America this weekend — concerns are being raised about the larger western grid which BC Hydro is connected to and how it will hold up,” Scott said. “We’re definitely expecting to see big increases for demand here in B.C. as people look for ways to keep cool.

“However, we really want to assure British Columbians that we can meet that demand. So the power will be here for them when they need it.”

Because of the extended heatwave, Scott says the utility is expecting to see an increased demand on their system and an increase in electricity because of customers trying to stay cool.

Scott added, there’s a number of things that people can do to keep cool and save money during the heatwave.

“Shading windows can actually block up to 65 per cent of the heat. Use a ceiling fan, they only use about 1/10 of the energy of an air conditioner. We encourage people to purchase ENERGY STAR air conditioners if they are looking for AC units. They use about 30-40 per cent less power than the standard unit,” she explained. “And then if you’re planning on doing cooking, you could consider opting for smaller appliances, a microwave or a crackpot or toaster oven, generate a lot less heat than the oven does.”

BC Hydro says 98 per cent of the power it generates on average comes from “clean or renewable resources,” such as hydroelectric infrastructure.

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