It’s now official: 2021 is Vernon’s hottest summer on record

Sep 2, 2021 | 2:06 PM

The heat dome that baked much of Western Canada led to a lot of weather breaking events, including in Vernon which recorded its hottest ever day — and summer — in 2021.

Bobby Sekhon, a meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, told Vernon Matters that in late June, when the heat dome was at its peak, Vernon had record breaking temperatures.

“We saw Vernon get up to 44.2 degrees on the 29th of June, and the record previous to this June was 40 degrees from the 21st of July in 1908,” said Sekhon.

He went on to say that the record was broken on three consecutive days between the 27th and 29th, with the final day being the hottest in Environment Canada’s records for Vernon.

In addition to setting an all-time daily high, Vernon also had it’s hottest summer on record.

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“The mean temperature was 22.2 C, compared to the normal of 18.7 C, so that’s a good 3.4 C above the normal temperature,” said Sekhon.

“So quite a bit hotter, the hottest ever on record, and the previous one to that was [set in] the 2015 summer, where the mean temperature was 21 C. So we beat that by quite a bit as well.”

Vernon had about 36 per cent of its average precipitation this summer, and while that led to drought-like conditions, Sekhon said it was only seventh driest summer on record, thanks mainly to the precipitation in late-August.

Heading into the fall, Sekhon said the seasonal forecast calls for above-average temperatures, but does warn that the long-term outlook doesn’t have a high degree of certainty.

A few weather systems coming off the Pacific are expected to move through B.C. in the coming weeks, but Sekhon expects they will mostly bypass Vernon and the North Okanagan, bringing with them some cloud cover, but very little precipitation.

With the warm dry conditions expected to continue through September, Sekhon asks that people follow water-use restrictions and guidance from the local governments.

by Liam Verster

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