Many parts of the NWT will see temperatures in the high 30’s, with Fort Smith reaching temperatures of 41 degrees over the next few days, as a historic heatwave is set to stick around well into next week.
Temperatures will exceed 40 degrees on June 30, which blows the previous highest temperature in Fort Smith on that day — 31.7 degrees celsius — out of the thermometer.
Elsewhere, temperatures are set to reach into the 30’s, with Hay River hitting 34 degrees on Tuesday, beating the previous high for temperature on June 29 by four degrees. That was set back in 1979.
Temperatures in the community will drop off later in the week to the low 20’s, but will still remain above the average high.
In Yellowknife it’ll be a little milder, with temperature set to reach 30 degrees on Tuesday and 29 degrees on Wednesday, but will drop off to around 25 degrees celsius by the weekend.
The higher temperatures is part of a heatwave that has impacted large swaths of western Canada and some parts of the U.S.
On Sunday, Lytton, B.C. broke the record for the highest ever temperature in Canada, and became the first location in Canada ever to record a temperature over 45 degrees Celsius, when temperature reached 46.1 degrees, according to Environment Canada.
That’s the hottest temperature ever recorded in the country. The previous record was 45 degrees celsius set on July 5, 1937, in Saskatchewan.
The higher temperatures are due to a “heat dome”, according to federal climatologists. The phenomenon is caused by a strong ridge of high pressure that traps warm air underneath it like a dome, allowing the sun to bake the earth below.
