“Lytton in British Columbia soared to 46.6C (116F) on Sunday, breaking an 84-year-old record, officials said. A "heat dome" of high pressure parked over the region has set new records in many other areas.”

The old record was 45°C in 1937. So not only did this beat the record, it bet it by 1.6°C, which is a bit mindbending.

“Lytton was not alone. More than 40 other spots in British Columbia set new records.
“Environment Canada senior climatologist David Phillips told CTV: "I like to break a record, but this is like shattering and pulverising them. It's warmer in parts of western Canada than in Dubai."
“He said there was a chance of topping 47°C somewhere.”

Slightly down the coast and across the border:

“Portland International Airport recorded a record high of 108 degrees on Saturday, the National Weather Service said.”

That’s 42°C.

Portland actually reached 112°C at one point (44.4°C).

If you want a glimpse of the future, how about this photo of a “cooling centre” in Portland where you go to basically not die from the heat outside:

It’s pictures like this that gradually slip into our consciousness as “the new normal”, without us even realising it, if we’re not careful.

As for Seattle, it got hit with a relatively chilly 40°C, all things considered.

If only we could pin these records on something!

I’ll let CNN do the talking here:

“The planet is trapping roughly double the amount of heat in the atmosphere than it did nearly 15 years ago, according to an alarming new analysis from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
“Researchers say it's a "remarkable" amount of energy that is already having far-reaching consequences.
"It's excess energy that's being taken up by the planet," said Norman Loeb, a NASA scientist and lead author of the study, "so it's going to mean further increases in temperatures and more melting of snow and sea ice, which will cause sea level rise — all things that society really cares about."

I’m sure the last few days’ heat records are just a coincidence.