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These 17 places in B.C. just had their hottest Sept. 6 on record

The City of Victoria is seen from above. The City of Victoria is seen from above.
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It’s been a warm start to September in B.C., and in some communities record-breakingly so, according to data from Environment and Climate Change Canada.

On Friday, 17 places saw their hottest Sept. 6 on record. That comes after 15 communities broke their daily high temperature record for Sept. 5 on Thursday.

The warmest record-breaking temperature recorded on Friday was in Trail, where the mercury rose to 36 C. Its previous Sept. 6 high was 35 C in 1998.

The longest standing record that fell was at a weather station in Greater Victoria, Gonzales Point in Oak Bay. It recorded its warmest Sept. 6 in 126 years, 29.8 C, surpassing a previous high recorded in 1898. The federal weather agency listed records broken at Victoria Harbour, Gonzales Point and Esquimalt, but the data used for all three locations comes from the Victoria Gonzales station. 

In the Lower Mainland, Pitt Meadows, West Vancouver and Whistler broke daily maximum temperature records.

Above-seasonal temperatures this week have increased fire behaviour on some wildfires in the province, according to the BC Wildfire Service. Fire danger ratings across B.C. were mostly moderate to high Saturday, with pockets of extreme and low.

“With the warm, dry trend continuing and much of B.C. remaining unseasonably dry as a result of ongoing drought, fuels continue to be very susceptible to ignition and fire behaviour can increase rapidly,” it wrote in its daily situation report Saturday.

There are currently 220 wildfires burning in the province, and 36 of them are classified as out of control.

The full list of temperature records broken Friday follows below:

  1. Agassiz: New record of 31.8 C, old record of 31.1 C set in 1955
  2. Blue River: New record of 33.2 C, old record of 33.0 C set in 1998
  3. Cache Creek: New record of 34.3 C, old record of 33.5 C set in 2019
  4. Clinton: New record of 30.0 C, old record of 29.8 C set in 2006
  5. Esquimalt: New record of 29.8 C, old record of 29.4 set in 1898
  6. Gonzales Point: New record of 29.8 C, old record of 29.4 set in 1898
  7. Merritt: New record of 34.6 C, old record of 34.0 C set in 2003
  8. Pitt Meadows: New record of 32.4 C, old record of 30.1 C set in 2014
  9. Puntzi Mountain: New record of 31.7 C, old record of 28.6 C set in 2006
  10. Tatlayoko Lake: New record of 30.5 C, old record of 29.3 C set in 2014
  11. Tofino: New record of 27.2 C, old record of 26.1 C set in 1987
  12. Trail: New record of 36.0 C, old record of 35.0 C set in 1998
  13. Victoria: New record of 28.1 C, old record of 28.0 C set in 1987
  14. Victoria Harbour: New record of 29.8 C, old record of 29.4 C set in 1898
  15. West Vancouver: New record of 28.8 C, old record of 28.5 C set in 1986
  16. Whistler: New record of 32.7 C, old record of 30.9 C set in 2014
  17. Williams Lake: New record of 30.5 C, old record of 28.2 C set in 2017

ECCC says that 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 its record summary may contain preliminary or unofficial information and does not constitute a complete or final report. 

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