On Tuesday afternoon local time, 49.5℃ was measured in the city, writes the broadcaster Radio Canada.

The two previous heat records in Canada were recorded on Monday and Sunday. Then, 47.9 and 46.6 ℃ were measured respectively in the city of Lytton, located 260 kilometers northeast of Vancouver, in the province of British Columbia.

Prior to last week, 45℃ was the highest temperature ever recorded in Canada.

The record was set in Saskatchewan in 1937.

Many casualties

The extreme heat claimed several lives. Dozens of people have lost their lives in the northwestern United States and southwestern Canada in recent days.

Vancouver area police say they have received reports of more than 130 sudden deaths since Friday, according to BBC. Most of the dead are elderly people in poor health.

Authorities in the city of Vancouver were forced to close several schools and vaccination centers on Tuesday due to the high heat.

Environmental Protection Canada has issued an extreme heat warning for the provinces of British Columbia and Alberta. The warning also covers parts of Saskatchewan, the Northwest Territories and the Yukon.

– Warmer than in Dubai

The extreme heat baffles scientists.

– We are the second coldest country in the world and the most snowy. We often experience cold spells and blizzards, but we rarely talk about hot weather like this. It’s colder in Dubai than here now, says climatologist David Phillips of Canada’s Environment Ministry BBC.

Very high temperatures were also recorded in the northwestern United States. The temperature in the US cities of Portland and Seattle has reached the highest levels since records began in the early 1940s.

According to the US National Weather Center, 46.1 and 42.2℃ were measured in Portland and Seattle, respectively.

High hospital attendance

More than 1,100 people have visited hospitals in Washington and Oregon states with heat-related symptoms.

From Friday to Sunday, 97 people checked into Portland area hospitals

– Normally, we get one or two people with heat-related illnesses during this time, says Kate Yeiser, spokeswoman for Multnomah County, where about a third of the city’s 1.8 million people live.

Several locations are experiencing extreme heat

Other parts of the northern hemisphere are already experiencing extreme temperatures.

according World Meteorological Organization (WMO) this applies to an area that spans North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, Eastern Europe, Iran and the northwest of the Indian continent.

Daily maximum temperatures exceeded 45℃ in several places, reaching 50℃ in the Sahara. In June, western Libya recorded temperatures more than 10℃ above average. Western Russia and regions around the Caspian Sea also experienced unusually high temperatures, the WMO writes.

International news writes that the city of Jacobabad in the province of Sindh in Pakistan has temperatures that can reach 52℃. These are temperatures above what humans can tolerate. Hospitals are filling up with people suffering from heatstroke, and the region of Pakistan is one of the places in the world most vulnerable to climate change.

Human-caused climate change

The extreme temperatures of early summer are due to human-induced climate change, the WMO writes.

– Heat waves are becoming more frequent and intense as an increase in greenhouse gases leads to higher temperatures, says Omar Baddour, head of WMO’s Department for Climate Control and Policy.

He adds that heat waves also start earlier and end later and take more and more control over people’s health.

In the province of British Columbia in Canada, where the heat record was set, are the Rocky Mountains and Glacier National Park. Therefore, there is a risk of high ice melt and associated hazards such as landslides, the WMO writes.

Intense heat, especially when combined with lightning, also leads to an increased risk of fire.