22.5 degrees in December: Canada’s west has never been warmer

Actually, temperatures around freezing point are measured in the Canadian province of British Columbia at this time of the year. But this week delivered a new December record: plus 22.5 degrees.

22.5 degrees Celsius plus – and that at the beginning of December. A new temperature record for British Columbia. It was measured in Penticton, a city in the center of the Canadian province. Temperatures around freezing point are usually recorded here at this time of the year.

Sub-tropical winds from the south are responsible for the high values, but have since subsided. Sub-zero temperatures are even expected in the region at the weekend. In November, the Canadian weather agency Environment Canada registered new temperature records in 20 cities. These extreme weather coincided with the forecasts for climate change, according to a meteorologist from the agency.

Historic drought in summer

Large parts of British Columbia suffered historic droughts and severe forest fires in the summer. In Lytton, 250 kilometers northwest of Penticton, fires broke out in the summer at 49.6 degrees – the highest temperature ever recorded in Canada. The city burned to the ground.

In mid-November, heavy rains hit the province and led to catastrophic floods.