July 2024 Forecasts And Discussions

[Mattman]

Goose or Glacier could likely speak to this: a snapshot of the prior station’s records for Kelowna from July ‘94. To my knowledge, that remains the record July high temp for Kelowna. The end of July ‘03 also saw >5 days consecutively days >35C. July 1998 was close.

[AbbyJr]

Apparently ambulances were all over the streets in Kelowna. Seniors dropping like flies according to my dad. At 39.5 that is not a big surprise.

Just awful. And yet, at least as of 2021, A/C is still not common in many long term care homes, even in the BC interior.

Title: Air conditioning not standard in long-term care in BC Interior
Author: Cindy White
Date: June 30, 2021
Source: https://www.castanet.net/news/Kelowna/3 ... C-Interior

You might be surprised to learn, many care homes for the elderly, even here in the Okanagan, don’t have air conditioning units in residents' rooms.

Staff at David Lloyd-Jones Home contacted Castanet because they say they’re exhausted and frustrated with having to work in sweltering conditions. The facility only has air conditioning in common areas. Fans are used in patient rooms, and doors to hallways are left open to try to keep them cool.

The operations director at Kaigo Senior Living confirms there’s no AC in the rooms of most residents at Mission Creek Landing. Most older facilities don’t have it. Even some new ones like their building in Richmond don’t come with in-room cooling systems, said Wendy Calhoun.

She pointed out the elderly and frail enjoy the heat, and cold can be dangerous. Patients could freeze if a unit were to be left running for too long.

However, extreme heat can also prove deadly. Police and the BC Coroners Service are investigating several sudden deaths in recent days believed to be related to the heat wave.

The elderly are especially vulnerable. "Once the core temperature rises too high, it needs to be cooled down,” said Troy Clifford, the provincial president of the Ambulance Paramedics of BC (APBC)

Calhoun said a replacement for Mission Creek Landing is under construction and Phase One, with 140 beds, will be ready in less than two years. It will have central air conditioning.

Castanet has reached out to Interior Health, which operates David Lloyd-Jones Home, to ask if they plan to do anything about the situation there, but haven't had a response yet.

Let me just draw some attention to a particular troubling statement made in the article:

She pointed out the elderly and frail enjoy the heat, and cold can be dangerous. Patients could freeze if a unit were to be left running for too long.

First of all, when we are talking about dangerous levels of heat, is it really relevant as to whether or not some seniors enjoy it? In addition, the claim that we shouldn't have A/C in care home rooms on the basis that the "cold can be dangerous" because "patients could freeze" is absolutely ridiculous. Are people unaware that A/C units can be programmed to shut off automatically when the room temperature reaches a preset value that can be manually adjusted? On the contrary, without A/C, the room temperature will not cool off enough to protect the residents. To be honest, this seems to be more of an excuse to cheap out and not invest money into proper functioning A/C, which should be considered life safety equipment. It's outrageous. While I'm not typically in favour of government mandates, I'd fully support a law that not only requires A/C in all residential buildings primarily occupied by the elderly but also prohibits strata's, regardless of the age of the residents, from banning or even restricting the use of A/C's. When it comes to life safety equipment, there is simply no excuses whatsoever to ban or restrict them under any circumstance. It's common sense.

[Glacier]

Goose or Glacier could likely speak to this: a snapshot of the prior station’s records for Kelowna from July ‘94. To my knowledge, that remains the record July high temp for Kelowna. The end of July ‘03 also saw >5 days consecutively days >35C. July 1998 was close.

That's right. Records began in 1968.

BTW, yesterday was the hottest July temperature ever recorded at the Williams Lake airport (only SEPTEMBER 1988 and June 2021 have been hotter. May 1983 was also hotter than the previous July record! Crazy how May and September records were HIGHER than July and August!). 35 at the airport means about 39 downtown due to the elevation difference. Down by the Fraser west of Williams lake (much lower) it would have likely been over 40 yesterday. Riske Creek at over 800m west of the Fraser was 38 yesterday. Extrapolating that down to the Fraser at 350m gives you 42.5, which is the same as Lytton was.

And Baldface Mountain at 1666m east of Anahim Lake was 34. Extrapolating that down to 350m gives you 47, so not sure what to make of that. I supposed that's because the assumption of 1 degree per 100m is not always right.

Also, yesterday was Vernon's all time July record. Unlike Williams Lake where records began in 1961, Vernon's records started in 1900!

[Mattman]

Just awful. And yet, at least as of 2021, A/C is still not common in many long term care homes, even in the BC interior.

Title: Air conditioning not standard in long-term care in BC Interior
Author: Cindy White
Date: June 30, 2021
Source: https://www.castanet.net/news/Kelowna/3 ... C-Interior



Let me just draw some attention to a particular troubling statement made in the article:



First of all, when we are talking about dangerous levels of heat, is it really relevant as to whether or not some seniors enjoy it? In addition, the claim that we shouldn't have A/C in care home rooms on the basis that the "cold can be dangerous" because "patients could freeze" is absolutely ridiculous. Are people unaware that A/C units can be programmed to shut off automatically when the room temperature reaches a preset value that can be manually adjusted? On the contrary, without A/C, the room temperature will not cool off enough to protect the residents. To be honest, this seems to be more of an excuse to cheap out and not invest money into proper functioning A/C, which should be considered life safety equipment. It's outrageous. While I'm not typically in favour of government mandates, I'd fully support a law that not only requires A/C in all residential buildings primarily occupied by the elderly but also prohibits strata's, regardless of the age of the residents, from banning or even restricting the use of A/C's. When it comes to life safety equipment, there is simply no excuses whatsoever to ban or restrict them under any circumstance. It's common sense.

My 95-year-old grandmother passed away March 1. She was in a care home in Rutland from May 2022 until she passed away. This isn’t crass but a reality: cold is more of a concern to the residents. Whenever I visited her, even in the stifling heat of summer, her room was hot but she was cold to the touch due to poor circulation. The main concern would be the staff. Doesn’t mean heat isn’t a concern for some of those elderly patients. And yes, it’s initially surprising to learn that many of those places don’t have AC. But perspective is important. I grew up in Kelowna and didn’t live in a house with central AC until I was 14 in’93. My folks built four homes between ‘87-‘93. The first three homes we built didn’t have AC. Having central AC in a dwelling wasn’t common. A sloppy window rattler in one room was common. Many of those facilities are as old or older than the houses we built. And there were brutal heatwaves I remember. We just endured with a handful of fans, so did the elderly then too.

[Glacier]

^ Yup, my grandma has her heat cranked all summer long!

PS. 5% humidity in Tatla Lake in the Chilcotin yesterday and also south of Williams Lake...

RHBELOW.png

[AbbyJr]

Max high of 30.5C here today.

[Typeing3]

High of 30c today in east Coquitlam. Felt noticeably cooler than the past few days.

[AbbyJr]

High of 30c today in east Coquitlam. Felt noticeably cooler than the past few days.

Humidity was lower today and that makes a huge difference. Dry heat is much more tolerable than humid heat.

[Coquitlam79]

That's right. Records began in 1968.

BTW, yesterday was the hottest July temperature ever recorded at the Williams Lake airport (only SEPTEMBER 1988 and June 2021 have been hotter. May 1983 was also hotter than the previous July record! Crazy how May and September records were HIGHER than July and August!). 35 at the airport means about 39 downtown due to the elevation difference. Down by the Fraser west of Williams lake (much lower) it would have likely been over 40 yesterday. Riske Creek at over 800m west of the Fraser was 38 yesterday. Extrapolating that down to the Fraser at 350m gives you 42.5, which is the same as Lytton was.

And Baldface Mountain at 1666m east of Anahim Lake was 34. Extrapolating that down to 350m gives you 47, so not sure what to make of that. I supposed that's because the assumption of 1 degree per 100m is not always right.

Also, yesterday was Vernon's all time July record. Unlike Williams Lake where records began in 1961, Vernon's records started in 1900!

For sure near the Fraser it was over 40c. There's even a place they call "Dantes Inferno" down there and for good reason.

[Hawk]

much cooler this morning with the windows open
Lets keep it up!

[stuffradio]

There were two large quakes this morning west of Vancouver Island. 5.4 and 6.4 mag within the last hour.

[stuffradio]

There was another mag 4.9 at 10:34 am.

[Hound]

Ya something is brewing out there.

[Roberts Creeker]

Ya something is brewing out there.

Still some stuff going on, you can see it here: https://www.earthquakescanada.nrcan.gc. ... .GHNB..HHZ

[Glacier]

For sure near the Fraser it was over 40c. There's even a place they call "Dantes Inferno" down there and for good reason.

I've been meaning to hike down there, but the wife always wants to keep driving... but these days we usually go up in separate vehicles cuz we end up going at different times and such, so maybe I'll do it next month (if it's not scorching hot).