Metro Vancouver residents may want to consider breaking out shorts this week because temperatures are set to break 20 degrees for the first time since October.

“The really gloomy weather we’ve had for the last couple of months is probably over with,” said Environment Canada forecaster Trevor Smith.

“We’ve got the sun out and I think everybody’s enjoying it. That’s really going to just continue for the rest of this week.”

He said it’s been colder than normal across all of southern B.C. so far this spring. Temperatures have been about a degree below average across the South Coast and the Okanagan since Feb. 1.

That’s set to change this week as the mercury rises every day until peak heat is reached on Wednesday and Thursday.

“Places away from the water could peak around 25 [degrees], which could flirt with daily records,” Smith said.

Places closer to the ocean could see highs of about 16 degrees since the Strait of Georgia’s waters are still fairly cold.

The last time temperatures cracked 20 degrees in the Lower Mainland was between Oct. 3 and 6, Smith said.

Out in Abbotsford, people were already enjoying the Sunday sunshine at the Bloom Abbotsford Tulip Festival. Owner Alexis Warmerdam said her business is very dependent on the weather, and this year’s cold spring delayed the picture-perfect blooms.

“It’s a little bit later than I would like. But it means we might be able to extend a little bit,” she said.

She’s hoping warm weather doesn’t turn hot too quickly though, since tulips don’t like temperatures approaching 30 degrees.

“At the end of the day there’s nothing we can do about the weather,” she said. “Just take that in stride … and work with [it] as it comes.”

She thinks the festival will have its first “high bloom” days for prime flower viewing, and slightly higher admission prices, this weekend.

With a report from CTV Vancouver’s Breanna Karstens-Smith