Well considering it was less than 100 years ago when 45C was being recorded in Canada, i don't think this is a once in 1000 year event. Canada is a large country with vast emptiness, and i don't doubt for one minute that similar temperatures have occurred there but simply being missed due to the vastness. 

Originally Posted by: picturesareme 

Indeed. Looks like you could blame maybe 2C of it on climate change. But look how unremarkable the area is for the local effect of Global warming. If this kind of thing was going to happen anywhere you would think Russia or somewhere in the arctic.

The difficulty, I suppose, is acessing the impact of global warming on the likelyhood of this synoptic situation happening. I mean we can't rule out these synoptics actually being less likely due to climate change rather than more likely.

Originally Posted by: Quantum 

It is very unusual for a country to have its highest ever recorded temperature in June.

Originally Posted by: Quantum 

I think that demonstrates a remarkable lack of grasp of what is happening to this planet.

Originally Posted by: Gandalf The White 

Is it? I would have though, given that June is, on average, the least humid of all the summer months, that 'dry heat', which builds quicker, and higher would be more the norm. For example, the all time highest temperature here in Ireland occurred in June 1887. 

Originally Posted by: Chunky Pea 

Weather has always happened. 

Originally Posted by: Chunky Pea 

But surely the primarily reason for July being warmer than June is the ocean lag?  If you're inland on a large continental landmass with negligible airflow isn't the latter part of June going to produce the maximum solar input and therefore have the greatest potential for high temperatures?  I know there are other factors such as soil moisture.

Originally Posted by: Gandalf The White 

Whoosh...

A classic pointless sound bite, I'm afraid.  

Originally Posted by: Gandalf The White 

But surely the primarily reason for July being warmer than June is the ocean lag?  If you're inland on a large continental landmass with negligible airflow isn't the latter part of June going to produce the maximum solar input and therefore have the greatest potential for high temperatures?  I know there are other factors such as soil moisture.

Originally Posted by: Gandalf The White 

Not pointless at all. Records were meant to be broken, just as they always have been. 

Originally Posted by: Chunky Pea 

The NW quadrant of the US, and I can only assume by that that the the SW of Canada has been exceptional dry for many months now, so it is doubtless that soil moisture (or lack thereof) played a small part in this event. 

Originally Posted by: Chunky Pea 

My view is that this is probably something like a once in a 1000 year event. It will be, probably, the most extreme weather event any of us have ever observed anywhere on the planet during our entire lifetimes. I cannot think of any weather event anywhere that comes close to this on its rarity.

Climate change will have helped by shifting the entire distribtution along a couple of degrees, but even without a background global warming the record would not have been in doubt and it would still be extreme beyond belief.

Think about this. A place in Canada, which did not hold the record before, just broke the record for the entire country, for the entire year, three times in a row. the 49.6C Lynton record is so extreme that Canada has just jumped from being rank 50 to rank 25 in terms of countries ranked by highest recoreded temperature. And that occured in June, not July or August. It is very unusual for a country to have its highest ever recorded temperature in June. Here's a challenge, find some examples that didn't occur during this heatwave. The event was so extreme that I can pretty much guarantee about 90% of all northern hemisphere June temp records happened during this heatwave.

It is simply the most extreme weather event we have or will ever see. More unlikely than Hurricane Patricia in 2015

Originally Posted by: Quantum 

Is it? I would have though, given that June is, on average, the least humid of all the summer months, that 'dry heat', which builds quicker, and higher would be more the norm. For example, the all time highest temperature here in Ireland occurred in June 1887. 

Originally Posted by: Chunky Pea 

Weather has always happened. 

Originally Posted by: Chunky Pea 

I was thinking about that. Not a great many countries will have ever recorded 50C. certainly not in Europe or even very close, think the record is around 48C. But now Canada has overtaken anywhere in Europe and I guess may even get 50C, don't know if the heat has even peaked yet.

Originally Posted by: Col 

Lytton is at 225m above sea level so fairly high.

The diurnal variation in temperature has also been very high. Temperatures have fallen to just above 20C on each of the past few nights.

The diurnal variation for 29th June was 28.8C.

The latest overnight reading shows the 09z temperature was still at 29.3C. That is 2.2C above the reading for the same time yesterday.

Originally Posted by: Global Warming 

That is a statement on a par with 'dogs can bark'.

Originally Posted by: Devonian 

It is just incredible that a country like Canada, which is so often famed for its cold weather in winter can essentially record 50°C. Even casting aside global warming for a second, it just shows the sheer vastness of the country and just how remarkable and extreme the continental climate can be.

In six months time, that part of the world will be a good 70-80°C colder than it is today.

Originally Posted by: Bolty 

One of the warmest summer's on record in this part of the world (1976) occurred when the modern climate was in a cooler state, but how is this so? Could it been have been helped along in no small way by the preceding dry spring? (as you know, anomalously dry soils heat more quickly in the sun which thus helps to increase air temps more than the would normally)

Originally Posted by: Chunky Pea 

Make me wonder how the 53C heat in Death Valley managed to go very far north to Canada without slowly dropping temps as it goes north but remain strong all the way.  It around 2000 miles from Death Valley region to Canada.

Originally Posted by: Jiries