EDITORIAL – We’re over-using the term ‘heatwave’ to describe our weather
(Image: Vargazs-Pixabay.com)
An editorial by Mel Rothenburger.
IT’S A HOT ONE out there, no question.
Best we stay cool, keep hydrated and be very, very careful not to accidentally start any fires. And the drought is an issue.
I wonder, though, if we might be more overwrought about this week’s weather than we need to be.
Don’t get me wrong. Advice from health authorities about how to respond to the weather conditions is something to pay attention to. We do, indeed, need to be careful about our health and be aware of wildfires and drought.
Climate change and global warming — or global boiling, as some now describe it — are certainly upon us.
I suggest, though, that taken in isolation, this week’s hot weather isn’t much more extreme than we’re accustomed to in the middle of August . It is not the heat dome of two years ago, when temperatures rose well above 40 in some parts of the province for a full week and a half, and 619 people died.
This week’s hot weather began Monday and is expected to be over by end of day Thursday, with temperatures rising to the high 30s but certainly not expected to hit the extremes of 2021.
It comes after several days of cool weather, and will be replaced at the end of the week with another cooler spell.
Again, this doesn’t mean we don’t have to be careful. Neither does it mean we can ignore the accumulating effects of climate change, but the media should stop sensationalizing a few days of hot weather as being more than it is.
A “heat wave,” a common term being used to describe the few days of elevated temperatures this week, is properly identified as “a prolonged period of abnormally hot weather.”
What we have right now is neither prolonged nor particularly abnormal. So let’s deal with it but keep our eye on the big picture, keep our cool, and keep things in context.
Mel Rothenburger is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. He has served as mayor of Kamloops, school board chair and TNRD director, and is a retired daily newspaper editor. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
When I was a kid growing up in Kamloops, we had plenty of hot days like this. I used to sleep on the linoleum under my bed–the coolest place in my room. Now, even the idea makes my back and hips hurt.
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The rest of the country has heat waves at temperatures lower than Kamloops has. I have to laugh when I see the news about it. End of July early August in the past were always hot. I remember sitting under a tree in Riverside Park with my sister and my 2 year old niece. It was 42 degrees. But with the shade, cool breeze and the spray park – perfect place to be.
I would also like to mention that Riverside Coliseum should not be the only cooling centre open in the city the size of ours with many city facilities that could be available in different different areas of the city for residents use. City council should get working on this.
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Agree completely! There should at least be a spray at MacArthur Island so people attending sports events and using the round-Island trail could cool off without gazing wistfully at the river (and maybe risking their lives going into it). If music festivals can provide this, surely our city can, and in many areas, as you suggest.
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I also agree. Having grown up here for the past few decades, I can remember times when the heat was well up into the upper 30’s and low 40’s and we had no A/C. We thought that was normal for the summer. Referring to high temps as a Heat Dome and making such a big deal about it, only cause more stress in an already stressful time. Folks it gets hot in the summer, always has….not a big surprise.
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We used to hear about Ozone Layers, and how Carbons are destroying them. It seems to mean we are experiencing shift of locations on weather. Then with every Country sending Space Shuttles and Rockets trying for the moon, Little Rocket Man testing his Rockets there is no mention about How Bad Rocket Fuel is for the environment. Google Rocket Fuel, it is worse than any other fuel used by man.
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Totally agree we have used climate change interchangeable with the weather as every time an event happens it seams to be something new but looking back to the 1930’s on the prairies it was in the 40+ C back then when all the crops died.
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