Heat returns to Metro Vancouver after weekend thunderstorms

Metro Vancouver is expected to warm up again after a thunderstorm-filled weekend, though temperatures are forecast to ease gradually later in the week.

Environment and Climate Change Canada forecast inland highs of 27 C, with humidex values as high as 33, following the cooler weekend. Tuesday is expected to reach 24 C, or 29 C inland, with humidex values of 29 and up to 34 inland. Wednesday’s high is forecast at 22 C, with a gradual decline through Sunday.

Overnight lows are expected to reach 17 C the following night before falling to about 12 C over the weekend, if the forecast holds.

Saturday’s storm was linked to an upper-level trough crossing southern B.C., which created unstable conditions and triggered numerous thunderstorms across the province, ECCC said. From 8 a.m. Aug. 22 to 8 a.m. Aug. 23, more than 40 millimetres of rain fell near Vancouver International Airport, while Eagle Ridge recorded 53.6 millimetres.

Residents shared lightning and thunderstorm footage online, with some describing the event as unusually intense for Vancouver. The source reported that the weekend storm brought more than 100 lightning flashes over a period of more than two hours in one observer’s account.