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It reached 49.6C at Lytton, British Columbia, Canada; pretty much unheard of up there.
The very serious flow on from this year event, is the catastrophic risk of forest fires. British Columbia is heavily forested, with Fir and Spruce, and some Redwoods on Vancouver Island. The needle bearing conifers literally burst into flames if ignited, due to the kerosene type properties of their sap (The very thing that keeps them from freezing solid in the harsh winters). Conifers have similiar flamibility to Gum trees. With the high temperatures, and lack of rain/snow the usual water runoff into lakes and dams is missing this summer (which has only really started in the last few weeks). This is a climate bomb waiting to go off. If the conifer forests catch fire, in this sort of heat, there will be no stopping it.
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