Five years ago today, the Robson Valley experienced something I had never imagined would happen. A stifling Heat Dome formed over BC, sending heat temperatures soaring, breaking long-held record high temperatures. The Robson Valley was no exception. During the summer our average daytime temperature hovers around 19°C (66°F), but in 2021 as we sweated under the Heat Dome, we got the previously unheard of temperature of 41°C (105.8°F).
While I was aware of heat domes forming in flat, hot areas, I never dreamed that we would suffer under one up here in the middle of the Canadian Rocky Mountains, but with climate change, nothing is normal anymore and anything seems to be possible.
The photo above shows my what my greenhouse looked like, after I tried to cover part of it to keep the temperatures inside from becoming lethal to my tomato plants. The inside temperature of the greenhouse did climb to 51°C (124°F) and my tomatoes did suffer, but survived.
The extreme heat caused rapid snowmelt on our mountains, causing the Fraser River to flood into the neighboring fields. (Photo below)
During the 2021 Heat Dome, the town of Lytton, BC which was often the temperature hotspot in BC, broke Canada’s all time heat record, with a temperature of 49.6°C (121.3°F) then immediately the whole town burned to the ground, destroyed by a forest fire.
Just yesterday, I read where Evansville, Indiana my home town, will find itself sitting under a heat dome, this coming Tuesday. I always found the hot humid summers they usually experienced, intolerable by themselves, and I hope the heat dome doesn’t linger too long over them.
You can take a look at my paintings: davidmarchant2.ca
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