That Heat Dome Could have Killed my Granny

Originally published in the Sudbury Star on July 10, 2021 as "That heat dome could have killed my Granny" https://www.thesudburystar.com/opinion/columnists/blacklock-that-heat-dome-could-have-killed-my-granny 

Back in the early ‘70s when I was a kid, my family would make a semi-annual August road trip to Summerland, B.C., in the heart of the Okanagan Valley. It’s where my dad grew up.

The Okanagan has always been a hot, dry place. The fruit trees and vineyards thrive only thanks to irrigation.

My grandmother lived in a little white stucco-coated bungalow at the north end of town. Though she had no AC, Granny Blacklock knew how to keep cool. She kept her room-darkening curtains and blinds closed throughout the day. A fan or two helped circulate cooler air from the north windows. Summer after summer for close to 92 years, she survived the Okanagan heat. I wonder if she would have survived the heat dome.

The local cherry crops didn’t. Farmers were expecting the first good harvest in three years, but extreme heat left the trees laden with clusters of shrunken, wilted, and burned fruit. In order to avoid a district-wide boil water advisory, the Town of Summerland announced water restrictions, and temporarily shut off some of the irrigation lines, putting the very trees at risk of dying.

On June 29th, Summerland’s temperature hit 42.8C, an all-time record. That record was shattered the very next day, as the temperature soared to 44.7C. Still, it could have been worse. Poor Lytton recorded Canada’s highest-ever temperature of 49.6C, before it burned to the ground, the victim of wildfire.

Meanwhile, SORCO, the Okanagan region’s only raptor rehabilitation centre, was overwhelmed by the demands of rescuing and reviving nests of starving, dehydrated baby birds of prey throughout the valley. Raptors and osprey. Eagles and hawks. Many of them already deceased. “The babies were literally hanging over the side of the nest and panting,” said SORCO manager Dale Belvedere, in an interview with Global News. The centre ran out of fish to feed the survivors, but thankfully received a 1000-pound donation from the Okanagan Nation Alliance.

Lake Okanagan’s fish, the dietary mainstay of many birds of prey, had been driven to the depths by water temperatures in the 28-30C range, six to eight degrees higher than usual. Recreational fishers (assuming they weren’t sensibly hunkered down near their air conditioners) were advised not to catch and release fish because water temperatures above 24C are generally lethal for salmon and rainbow trout. Still, it could have been worse. Out in Vancouver and all along the coast, more than one billion seashore animals ­— mussels, clams, sea stars, and snails — broiled on the hot rocks while awaiting the incoming tide. The putrid aroma of death was everywhere.

What’s lethal for cherries and raptors and fish and mussels is unlikely to be healthy for humans. Fortunately, people have a few more options than fish. After an estimated 70,000 people died during the European heat wave of 2003, the importance of early warning systems and public health measures became apparent. As a result, even before last week’s real heat hit, the B.C. news was rife with advice on how to safely avoid heat exhaustion and heat stroke, and portable AC units had sold out everywhere.

My Okanagan cousins all made it through the heat wave alive. Still, it could have been worse. And it was. Throughout B.C., there were 719 sudden deaths in one week, triple the usual number. Many of them were seniors who baked to death in their own homes.

My Granny Blacklock was above all a practical woman. She would have heeded the warnings and stayed indoors. She’d have put off walking to the supermarket and made do with leftovers. And she had family around to check on her. Still, her strategies for staying cool had serious limits, and it’s usually the most vulnerable among us who succumb. My Granny could have been one of them.