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Century-old temperature record broken in B.C. for 3rd straight day

Victoria's Inner Harbour is shown. (shutterstock.com) Victoria's Inner Harbour is shown. (shutterstock.com)
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Milder-than-usual December temperatures continued across much of B.C. Friday, breaking or tying 16 records, including one that had stood for more than a century.

The mercury rose to 14 C at the weather station in Victoria Harbour on Friday, the warmest temperature recorded in the area on Dec. 29 since record-keeping began in 1874.

The previous record high for Dec. 29 was 13.3 C, set 119 years ago in 1904.

It's the third straight day that B.C. has seen at least one century-old high temperature record fall. On Thursday, Prince George, Quesnel and Vernon all broke records that had stood for more than 100 years, while on Wednesday, Victoria surpassed a record from 1922

Victoria's high wasn't the warmest record-setting temperature on Friday, however. That title belongs to Sechelt, which saw a high of 14.6 C, besting the previous record of 11.1 C in 1975 by several degrees.

The 14 other communities that saw their warmest Dec. 29 on record Friday were:

  • Agassiz area: New record of 13.3 C, old record of 12.1 C set in 2018
  • Bella Bella area: New record of 12.8 C, old record of 11.9 C set in 1980
  • Bella Coola area: New record of 11.2 C, old record of 9 C set in 1980
  • Port Hardy area: New record of 11.8 C, old record of 10.8 C set in 2018
  • Powell River area: New record of 11.7 C, old record of 11.1 C set in 1939
  • Prince George area: Tied record of 7.5 C set in 1980
  • Prince Rupert area: New record of 14.2 C, old record of 11.8 C set in 2006
  • Puntzi Mountain area: New record of 6.4 C, old record of 5.5 C set in 2018
  • Quesnel area: New record of 10.5 C, old record of 9.4 C set in 1980
  • Vancouver area: New record of 12.4 C, old record of 12.1 C set in 1998
  • West Vancouver area: New record of 14.5 C, old record of 9.5 C set in 1980
  • Whistler area: New record of 5.5 C, old record of 5.1 C set in 1997
  • White Rock area: New record of 14.3 C, old record of 12.2 C set in 1933
  • Williams Lake area: New record of 7.7 C, old record of 6 C set in 1980

Environment and Climate Change Canada says the temperature records it reports are "derived from a selection of historical stations in each geographic area that were active during the period of record." 

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