mistifying

The BC Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness provided a recent News Release outlining that funding will go toward projects throughout B.C., such as: … misting stations to keep people cool during extreme heat in Victoria.

​Victoria already has 14 misting stations that attach to fire hydrants throughout the city, and are kind of reminiscent of a high school prank:

​Remember to take your sweater off before use.
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Victoria does get the odd warm spell, but for the most part summers are cool compared with the BC Interior and Eastern Canada. If you look at the number of 30+ C days for the last 5 summers in Victoria and Windsor Ontario (Environment Canada Data):

Victoria = 6 days or 1.2 per summer
Windsor = 142 days or 28.4 per summer
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The current need for misting stations in Victoria is pretty marginal, but what about Climate Change into the future … have the number of hot days gone up recently? Over the short-term yes, but over the long-term no.

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The average number of 30.0+ C days in Victoria is 1.4 per summer for the most recent 30-year climate timeframe to 2022. This is the same amount as the hot day averages recorded throughout three consecutive 30-year climate periods from 1913 to 1962, at the Gonzales Weather Station in Victoria.

Gonzales used to be the Pacific Headquarters of Dominion Meteorological Services (now Environment Canada) and is one of the longest continuously operating stations in western North America. It provides the most complete and accurate weather statistics for the city.

From the graph it is clear that the number of hot days in Victoria have only now returned to what they were 70 or 80 years ago. Of interest, the “heat dome” summer of 2021 involved 3 days with temperatures over 30 degrees, but the record is 7 days way back in 1942. Looking at consecutive day events, there were two 30+ heat waves of 4 day duration in 1911 and 1933, compared to the 3 day duration in 2021.
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It’s a head-scratcher how something this unnecessary and hokey, qualifies for provincial funding under the banner of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness.
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