More heat records set in B.C., but long-range forecast suggests rain may be on the way
The forecast is likely to change late next week, with a weather pattern bringing showers
Parts of British Columbia saw record-high temperatures Thursday, but cooler weather is in the forecast for the end of next week, according to Environment Canada.
Records were set in 21 communities around the province on Thursday, some of which had stood for more than a century.
Hot spots included Squamish at 26.5 C and Port Alberni at 25.7 C, along with 24 C temperatures in Pitt Meadows, Agassiz, Hope and the Tatlayoko Lake area southwest of Williams Lake.
The federal weather office says the heat record set in Port Alberni was 106 years old, while the temperature of 21.1 C in Nelson tied a record set in that city a century ago.
"When temperatures are in the low 20s, it's somewhere between — depending on where you are — five to 10 degrees above average for this time of year," Derek Lee, a meteorologist with Environment Canada, said.
Higher than normal temperatures are expected through the weekend for Metro Vancouver, as well as hazy, smoky skies.
Recent weather has been part of a longer trend of warm, dry weather that began in August.
Lee said Metro Vancouver usually would receive around 51 millimetres of rain in September, but last month the Vancouver Airport only saw seven millimetres.
Weather for the region is likely to change late next week, he added, with a pattern possibly bringing showers that could signal a shift to fall-like weather.
Hazy skies
Meanwhile, the Metro Vancouver regional district has issued an air quality advisory for the eastern Fraser Valley due to smoke from wildfires burning northeast of Chilliwack, near Hope and Harrison Lake, as well as in Washington state.
The advisory says hazy conditions may be experienced in other parts of Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley, although concentrations of fine particulate matter in those areas are below advisory thresholds.
Stagnant weather conditions are expected to continue for at least the next few days and air quality may not change until the weather turns.
The advisory also says smoke concentrations may vary widely across the region.
With files from Johanna Wagstaffe and The Canadian Press