Heat records fall in 10 B.C. communities Friday

People enjoy a sunny day at Vancouver's Kitsilano beach on March 16, 2024. Communities across B.C. are experiencing a warm, sunny weekend. Temperature records fell in 10 communities the province on Friday, however Vancouver was not one of them.

The warm weekend that was forecasted for B.C. has arrived, and 10 communities experienced their hottest March 15 on record Friday, according to data from Environment and Climate Change Canada.

One of the records that fell had stood for 119 years. Until this year, the warmest March 15 in Quesnel was way back in 1905, when the mercury rose to 16.7 C. On Friday, it got to 18.4 C.

The warmest new record was recorded in Squamish, where it reached 19.5 C, surpassing a previous high of 17 C from 1988.

A ridge of high pressure is bringing a warm air mass to B.C., ECCC meteorologist Lisa Ervin explained to CTV News Friday.

She said most of the province will experience temperatures five-to-10 degrees above normal for the season this weekend, and more records could fall in the coming days.

The warm temperatures are forecast to last until Tuesday, before more typical March weather—including rain—returns later in the week. Patios and golf courses are expected to be full as British Columbians embrace the brief period of sun and almost-summer-like warmth.

In Vancouver, residents flocked to Kitsilano Beach to soak up the sun on Saturday. “I couldn’t be any more excited,” one beach-goer, Alex White, told CTV News.

“You just can’t be upset in this weather, even if you’re having a bad day and you look outside and see that sun and blue skies, you can’t be sad.”

“Swimming out there in the water and looking at the mountains with snow on top is beautiful,” said Conor Kinsella.

Dave Beckley decided to spend his sunny Saturday biking along the water. “I feel pretty great. It’s easy to get outside, it’s easy to get off the couch, the motivation is right there in the sky,” he told CTV News.

“I just wish there was more—let’s take it while we got it,” he added. 

The full list of daily maximum temperature records set Friday follows below:

• Blue River area: New record of 16.9 C, old record of 15.9 C set in 1992
• Burns Lake area: New record of 11.5 C, old record of 11.4 C set in 1986
• Gibsons area: New record of 13.7 C, old record of 13.0 C set in 1996
• Mackenzie area: New record of 12.9 C, old record of 11.2 C set in 1981
• Puntzi Mountain area: New record of 15.5 C, old record of 13.3 C set in 1972
• Quesnel area: New record of 18.4 C, old record of 16.7 C set in 1905
• Sechelt area: New record of 13.7 C, old record of 12.5 C set in 1996
• Smithers area: New record of 12.1 C, old record of 11.7 C set in 1986
• Squamish area: New record of 19.5 C, old record of 17.0 C set in 1988
• Tatlayoko Lake area: New record of 17.7 C, old record of 16.1 C set in 1947

The weather agency says temperature records are “derived from a selection of historical stations in each geographic area that were active during the period of record.” It notes that the summary may contain preliminary or unofficial information and does not constitute a final report.

With files from CTV News Vancouver’s Kevin Charach