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Port Alberni’s blistering Monday fails to break all-time Vancouver Island high

Highest temperature ever on the Island was recorded in 1942 in Cumberland
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The sky glowed a deep orange Monday night just before the sun set below the horizon. (Jane Skrypnek/News Staff)

It may have been the hottest stretch of weather most residents have ever experienced on Vancouver Island.

But it failed to crack the all-time record book.

As the last vestiges of a brutal, historic five-day heat wave start to loosen their clutches on the Island today, it appears the intensity peaked at 42.7 C in Port Alberni around dinner time Monday.

But, according to Terri Lang, meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, that fell more than a full degree short of Vancouver Island’s all-time heat record.

“It’s a record for June for Vancouver Island, but not an all-time record,” Lang said.

The all-time record still belongs to Cumberland, 43.9 C, recorded on July 1, 1942.

According to Environment Canada, the official temperature in the Comox Valley as of 2 p.m. Tuesday sits at 30 C, as Vancouver Island begins to cool. It is also 30 C in Port Alberni.

Nanaimo, at 35 C is the current Island high. In Victoria, it is only 22 C

After thermometers hit the high 30s and even into the 40s Monday in most of the Island’s major population centres, Wednesday’s forecast is calling for more typical seasonal highs in the mid- to high 20s, continuing through until the end of the weekend.

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