In British Columbia, air conditioners are a hot commodity like never before on the West Coast. But as more and more people adapt to more frequent heat waves, many others still suffer through summer temperatures with little more than a fan and a wet cloth to keep them cool.
Temperature extremes have experts worried, because as bad as it is when it feels like 35 C outdoors, it’s indoor temperatures that kill people, says Sarah Henderson, a public health expert with the BC Centre for Disease Control.
“People don’t die because it’s too hot outside. They die because it’s too hot inside,” she says.