by GWYNNE DYER
First the “heat dome”, with temperatures in the mid-to-high forties Celsius in many parts of western North America for up to a week (49.6° C in Lytton, B.C.). Then, when the forests were tinder-dry, came the wildfires (which wiped Lytton out). From northern California to northern BC, the records were being broken every day.
The extreme temperatures were unprecedented, but the weathermen had an explanation of sorts: a “heat dome” that trapped hot air in the same area for a long time while the heat kept rising.
They didn’t speculate beyond that because it would get them into a new and unproven hypothesis, but many meteorologists know that this could be our first glimpse of a new normal in which killer heat waves become regular events.