Warm weather records shattered across the province over weekend
At least three dozen warm weather records were broken over the weekend as residents on B.C.'s south coast and beyond basked in temperatures in the high teens to low 20s.
While the city of Vancouver narrowly missed setting a record on Saturday, other parts of the Lower Mainland, Sunshine Coast, Vancouver Island and the B.C. north and Interior broke records — in some cases by as much as five degrees Celsius or more.
Squamish soared to a toasty 23 C on Saturday, shattering the old record of 17 C set in 1988, according to Environment and Climate Change Canada. Pemberton, at 20.4 C, and Whistler, at 16.4 C, both easily topped the old records of 15 and 14 respectively.
West Vancouver hit 18.7 C, eclipsing the record of 15.5 C set in 1983, while Victoria nudged the old record of 18.3 C set in 1947 with a high of 19 C on Saturday.
On the Sunshine Coast, Gibsons hit a balmy 19.7 C, — well above the 15 C peak in 1967 — while Sechelt also hit 19.7 C, more than three degrees above the 1972 record.
Records were also set in White Rock, Abbotsford, Pitt Meadows, Hope, Kelowna, Merritt, Vernon and Prince George, among many others.
Nan Lu, a meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, said a ridge of high pressure over B.C. is creating springtime temperatures, with temperatures up to the high teens on Friday and even higher Saturday.
“The normal daytime temperature for this time of the year is about 10 C. So right now, in some of the regions we have five to 10 C above seasonal temperatures,” said Lu.
“We have this very strong ridge of high pressure that brings warm temperatures and also keeps the warm temperatures over our region ... So we'll be continuing to see dry and sunny, warm temperature over the weekend.”
Lu said on Sunday the warm and dry conditions should persist until Tuesday before a return to more seasonal temperatures and some showers beginning on Wednesday.
Here's an alphabetical list of B.C. temperature records broken or tied Saturday, with the old record and the year it was set in brackets:
■ Abbotsford: 22.6 (22.2, 1947)
■ Agassiz: 23.3 (22.8, 1900)
■ Bella Bella: 20.7 (15.2, 1926)
■ Bella Coola: 21.1 (19.4, 1926)
■ Blue River: 17.4 (14.8, 1992)
■ Burns Lake: 16.1 (11.3, 1992)
■ Cache Creek: 19.9 (17.2, 1947)
■ Clearwater: 18.7 (16.7, 1941)
■ Clinton: 16.6 (12.1, 2010)
■ Dawson Creek: 15 (13.9, 1930)
■ Estevan Point: 17.3 (16.7, 1947)
■ Gibsons 19.7 (15, 1967)
■ Hope: 23.4 (22.8, 1947)
■ Kelowna: 17 (16.7, 1940)
■ Lytton: 20.6 (20.5, 1985)
■ Mackenzie: 15.1 (10, 1972)
■ Malahat: 17.8 (14.5, 1988)
■ Merritt: 20 (18, 1985)
■ Nakusp: 13.1 (tied, 1994)
■ Pemberton: 20.4 (15, 1988)
■ Pitt Meadows: 22.7 (20.6, 1947)
■ Port Hardy: 15.4 (15, 1947)
■ Powell River: 18.9 (16.7, 1972)
■ Prince George: 16.8 (13.3, 1947)
■ Prince Rupert: 17.8 (15.8, 1983)
■ Princeton: 20 (18.3, 1947)
■ Puntzi Mountain: 17.4 (14, 2010)
■ Sechelt: 19.7 (16.1, 1972)
■ Smithers: 17.6 (12.7, 1992)
■ Sparwood: 16.6 (13.2, 2010)
■ Squamish: 23 (17, 1983)
■ Tatlayoko Lake: 18.5 (16.7, 1947)
■ Terrace: 16 (12.8, 1928)
■ Vernon: 17.6 (16.1, 1915)
■ Victoria: 19 (18.3, 1947)
■ West Vancouver: 18.7 (15.5, 1983)
■ Whistler: 16.3 (14, 1985)
■ White Rock: 19.5 (19, 1983)
■ Williams Lake: 18.9 (14.2, 2010)