‘Relentless’ heat tops Maritime records
Summer on track to become one of hottest ever in Atlantic Canada
This summer is on track to become one of the hottest on record in Atlantic Canada, as stifling heat and humidity levels persist from coast to coast, experts say.
“It has just been relentless,” said David Phillips, a senior cli- matologist with Environment Canada, who added the heat wave is expected to last until the end of August throughout much of Canada.
Rolf Campbell, a weather historian who has gathered over a hundred years’ worth of raw statistics from Environment Canada, said cities in all four Atlantic provinces had both higher average temperatures and maximum temperatures in July than in previous years.
Most are holding long-run- ning streaks of consecutive days with lots of humidity and soaring temperatures.
“I’ve only been doing this for a few years in the Maritimes, but this is by far the largest bunch of record-breaking days I’ve ever seen,” said Campbell, who runs a number of Twitter accounts reporting on historical weather statistics throughout the country.
Halifax has had more than two-straight weeks of days with a maximum temperature of 25 C — shattering the previous record set in 1876 — as well as a 41-day run with a maximum temperature of over 21 C, which is the longest streak ever recorded.
Heat warnings were issued in nearly every province in Canada on Monday, with some regions expected to hit the low 40s with the humidex.
“It’s rare to have such a persistent heat wave that strikes so much of the country,” Campbell said.