“Canada, and particularly the western provinces, have been unusually hot this summer,” said Andrew Pershing, science director of Climate Central, which published its study linking greenhouse gases to daily temperatures around the world.
Climate Central used widely accepted, peer-reviewed methods to calculate the contribution of climate change to extreme weather events and applied them to daytime temperatures between June and August in 202 jurisdictions around the world.
The study found that 98% of humanity suffocated in temperatures twice as likely due to atmospheric carbon dioxide, all during the hottest period on record, according to the World Meteorological Organization.
“Nobody is immune to climate change,” Mr. Pershing said.
Climate Central’s analysis showed western and northern Canada, including northern Quebec, recorded temperatures 1.5°C above normal over the summer. This is the seventh highest value worldwide.
“These areas experienced unusually warm and very persistent conditions,” Pershing said.
The researchers then analyzed to what extent these conditions can be attributed to climate change. They concluded that unusually warm daytime temperatures caused by greenhouse gases are three times more likely across much of the West Coast during most of the summer.
Large parts of Alberta experienced the same effect for up to 30 days.
Climate Central also examined other Canadian cities.
The organization names Charlottetown the climate capital of Canada. This summer, Prince Edward Island’s capital experienced 25 days in which climate change made the daily thermometer reading at least three times more likely.
Next came Yellowknife, St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador and Halifax, where the weather reached the same mark on 15 days.
When that bar is lowered to include weather conditions that are twice as likely, Surrey, British Columbia experienced 23 days of it. Iqaluit had 18 and Calgary had 16.
Devastating effect
This report represents the latest evidence that climate change is having increasingly devastating impacts on Canada and the entire planet.
Earlier this week, data from the European Union’s Copernicus satellites showed that average temperatures in June, July and August around the world were two-thirds of a degree the hottest on record.
This summer, record-breaking wildfires also broke out across Canada, forcing thousands of people from their homes and destroying 165,000 square kilometers.
The group World Weather Attribution has found that climate change makes summers like the ones that led to Quebec’s devastating wildfire season at least seven times more likely.
Andrew Pershing hopes Climate Central’s analysis of routine hot weather will raise awareness of the spread of climate change around the world.
Globally, the report concludes that the most serious impacts of climate change are affecting those who have contributed the least.
In 79 countries, climate change has increased the likelihood of most summer weather three times. Almost two-thirds of these countries were listed in the United Nations Least Developed Countries Index. Together, these countries are responsible for around 7% of global greenhouse gas emissions.