Balmy start to spring break as North Shore smashes temperature records

The North Shore basked in balmier-than-usual record-breaking temperatures this weekend as communities around the province enjoyed a mini heat wave.

Environment Canada’s West Vancouver weather station smashed records on both Saturday and Sunday, hitting 18.7 C on Saturday and 18.9 C on Sunday.

Those temperatures easily bypassed previous records of 15.5 C – set in 1983 – and 17.8 degrees – set in 1995.

Similar records were broken in communities throughout the province, with Hope, Aggasiz and Chilliwack weighing in as Saturday’s hotspots, where the mercury soared to 23.4 and 23.3 degrees.

Merritt was the hottest on Sunday, with a temperature of 23.2 degrees, while Pitt Meadows and Langley hit temperatures within fractions of a degree cooler.

Squamish, Pemberton, Osoyoos, Kelowna and the Sunshine Coast also registered local temperature records over the weekend.

Lisa Erven, meteorologist with Environment Canada, said the balmy weekend weather came from a strong ridge of high pressure pushed into B.C. from the southern U.S.

Temperatures are expected to return to more seasonal norms on Wednesday, along with rain for the rest of the week.

Starting at the end of March and into April, temperatures are expected to remain warmer than usual, under the continuing influence of El Nino, said Erven.

Long-range forecasts predict that higher-than-normal temperatures are also likely to persist into summer this year.