Forty-five daily temperature records were broken Monday across B.C. and Greater Victoria was not left out in the cold.
In the Capital Region, the hottest temperature recorded was on the Malahat, with a high of 41.3 C smashing the 1995 record of 32.4 C, according to Government of Canada weather stations.
South of the Malahat, the Gonzales station recorded 39.8 C, beating the 30.5-degree record set in 1995. While no previous record was available, the Victoria International Airport was not far behind at 39.4 C, followed by the University of Victoria, which registered 37.8 C, seven degrees hotter than its 30.8 C record set in 1995.
Registering 32.8, the Race Rocks Lightstation broke its 2015 record of 25.1 C, and at 30.7 C, Esquimalt Harbour also broke its 2015 record of 27.1 C.
READ MORE: Port Alberni smashes all-time heat record
Monday saw no relief after a hot weekend, with temperatures climbing to all-time highs across the province. Port Alberni solidified its record as the hottest place on Vancouver Island with a whopping 42.7 C, breaking its all-time record of 41.7 C, which was set on July 10, 1926.
A small village in the B.C. Interior earned another dubious honour Monday. At a steaming 47.9 C, Lytton once again broke records for the hottest temperature ever recorded in Canada, breaking its own record of 46.6 C just set on Sunday. However, it wasn’t quite the hottest place in North America. The aptly named Death Valley, Calif., hit 52.2 C on Monday according to the U.S. National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Centre.
Luckily, Victoria’s Tuesday forecast looks nothing like Death Valley’s. Environment Canada is forecasting a high of 29 C with a low of 17 C overnight. Temperatures are expected to start dropping, with a high of 28 C in the forecast for Wednesday, followed by 24 C on Thursday and 25 C Friday through Monday, with the exception of 27 C on Sunday.
READ MORE: Lytton, B.C., breaks all-time Canadian max temperature records yet again with 47.9 C
The heat wave forced businesses, including popular tourist destination Butchart Gardens, and construction sites across Greater Victoria to close over the weekend and into Tuesday as employers looked to protect their employees from the extreme temperatures.
Island Health also rescheduled a number of vaccine appointments as temperatures soared and clinics without air conditioning deemed it unsafe to open.
Building up over the weekend, the heat dome pushed temperatures to the high 30s on Sunday, smashing records for June 27 by as much as six or seven degrees.
Port Alberni was also the hotspot on the Island on Sunday, reaching a high of 41 C, according to Environment Canada. Victoria, at 38 C, broke its previous record of 29 C, set in 2015.
The heat wave is in contrast to average highs for June 27 that range from 20.4 C in Victoria to 21.8 C in Nanaimo.
ALSO READ: Vancouver Island smacked hard with record-breaking heat hammer
Saturday was the cooler of three days of record-breaking heat, but despite that, eight weather stations across southern Vancouver Island broke temperature records.
The southern Gulf Islands was the hottest spot with Saturna Island recording a high of 36.7 C at Environment Canada’s CAPMoN weather station on the south coast. The Island’s general temperature also broke its own record at 29.6 C.
In Greater Victoria, the Malahat station was the next highest at 36.1 C, followed by the University of Victoria at 35.7 C.
Gonzales Point reached 32.5 C but had no relief for swimmers in Gonzales Bay as a no-swim warning remains due to high levels of bacteria in the water.
Esquimalt Bay recorded a relatively cool, but record-breaking nonetheless 27.3 C on Saturday. Off Metchosin, the Race Rocks Lightstation hit 30.4 C and Sheringham Point near Shirley reached 30.7 C.
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