Heat dome sizzling West ties Canada’s national high temperature record for September

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LYTTON, British Columbia – A massive heat dome sprawled across the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia has not only shattered daily records, but for Canada, tied the hottest temperature the nation has ever recorded in September.

A thermometer in Lytton, British Columbia, recorded a max temperature of 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40.0 degrees Celsius) on Tuesday, setting the September heat provincial record for British Columbia and matching only two other times a Canadian city reported such heat this late in the year, according to Canada’s The Weather Network.

The other instances were at Morden, Manitoba, in 1906 and in 1940 in Lost River, Saskatchewan, The Weather Network said.

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The forecast is even a touch hotter for Wednesday, threatening to break the national record and leaving Lytton alone atop the record book.

Lytton is no stranger to Canadian national records. The town already holds multiple heat records, including the overall Canadian national heat record of 121.3 degrees F (49.6 degrees C), stemming from the historic heat wave of June 2021.

While much of the heart of both Canada and the U.S. has been experiencing an early taste of autumn-like weather as polar air plunges into the region, a large ridge of high pressure has generated a searing heat dome across much of the West, sending temperatures soaring.

High temperature records were set in America’s Inland Northwest, with Spokane, Washington, reaching 99 degrees both Monday and Tuesday – a place where the average high for early September is 78 degrees.

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There is no relief for days as the heat dome remains entrenched through the end of the week. Various heat alerts cover much of the southern interior of British Columbia, stretching across the border into parts of Washington, Idaho, Oregon and Montana on Thursday.  

Northwest Heat Alerts

(FOX Weather)

Forecasts for Wednesday and Thursday call for widespread high temperatures reaching at least the mid- to upper 90s, with the hottest areas expected to cross over 100 degrees F (38 degrees C) again.

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The heat dome should fade by early next week with warmer weather shifting east, but long-range forecasts indicate overall warmer-than-average temperatures will continue into the middle of the month.