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Canada drowns at almost 50 degrees. The North American country is experiencing the highest temperatures in its history, an extreme heat wave that has already left more than 200 deaths in the last four days. Experts attribute it to a phenomenon known as ‘heat dome’.
The term, which does not correspond to a strictly defined meteorological figure, as pointed out the meteorologist of the BBC, Nick Miller, corresponds to the presence of huge areas of high atmospheric pressure, which leads to very clear skies and sunny days.
As the high pressure pattern continues, the heat wave becomes chronic and becomes more extreme due to the effect of the sun, as if it were acting as a plug that prevents the affected territory from being ventilated.
In a convection movement, the warm air tries to leave the area, but that ‘plug’, retains it and pushes it back towards the surface, which releases more heat, in a continuous cycle, which perfectly exemplifies the ‘ greenhouse effect’.
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What’s more, as they point from eltiempo.es, the situation of high temperatures in this season is favored by the geography of the environment of the Rocky Mountains of Canada. On the surface, the south component winds predominate, so the air reached the town of Lytton warmer and drier as it was located in a valley.
The experts, “without words”
Currently, Canada suffers from this phenomenon in much of its geography, from the west (the US is also affected in coastal states such as California, Washington or Oregon) to its Arctic territories.
Precisely, in these last two US states the balance is also fatal, with at least 12 deaths and maximums of up to 49ºC set by the National Meteorological Service.
Armel Castellan, spokesman for the Canadian meteorological agency, has expressed that he is “speechless” in the face of the events, although he has admitted that it was to be expected that the heat “would be deadly”, according to information from the chain. CBC.
The town of Lytton broke the calorific ‘ceiling’ of all of Canada several days in a row. From 46.6ºC on Sunday, to 47.9 on Monday and 49.4 on Tuesday. In British Columbia, the region to which this municipality belongs, about 60 marks have been surpassed every day by this ‘heat dome’.
More extreme days are coming in a vulnerable region
The forecast is that the extreme heat “dangerous and historical”, with between 15 and 20 degrees above the usual on these dates will remain at least during this week, they point out from the country’s Ministry of the Environment.
That the region is not used to temperatures that are higher than the current maximums in Spain, for example, carries the associated danger that less than half of Canadian coastal homes have air conditioning
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