Visualizing the Northwest Heat Wave ⇥ nytimes.com
The New York Times published a series of visualizations of this week’s record-breaking heat wave across the Pacific Northwest and into the Canadian North, via Andy Baio. Lytton, British Columbia hit nearly 50°C today, breaking the Canadian record for the third day in a row and which, according to Wikipedia’s list, is greater than any temperature recorded in Europe, Central America, South America, or Southeast Asia. Many people in the province have died as a result of the heat.
It has not been nearly as extreme in Calgary, but it is certainly anomalous, with every day since Sunday breaking 30°C, and today’s high temperature just 0.2°C shy of the all-time record. Only about a quarter of residences have air conditioning; my apartment does not, and I am sure it has remained in the mid- to high-twenties all week long.
We are all so ill-equipped for these extremes.