Balmy weather across much of British Columbia helped set dozens of new temperature records across the province on the weekend, including in Victoria.
The warm weather helped bring out the crowds in downtown Victoria on Sunday, where a St. Patrick’s Day Festival took place over several blocks of Government Street. Greater Victoria residents also flocked to nearby beaches and lakes to soak up the warmth.
Environment Canada says a ridge of high pressure brought warm temperatures to the province this weekend, with above-normal conditions forecast to continue into this week.
In Victoria, Saturday's temperature hit 18.8 C at the Gonzales station, setting a new record for March 16. Official records for the region are kept at the Victoria International Airport, which recorded a high of 15.6 C on Saturday — below the 17.2 C recorded at the site in 1947.
Elsewhere on Vancouver Island, the Malahat area set records on both Saturday (17.8 C) and Sunday (18.2 C), breaking records set in 1988 and 2019, respectively.
Port Alberni neared 21 C on Sunday, setting a new record of 20.9 C — two degrees above the previous record of 18.9 C set in 1930. Records in this area have been kept since 1900.
Several other regions of the province also saw temperatures climb past 20 C over the weekend.
The weather office reported 38 communities logged their hottest March 16 on record, while the Nakusp area tied the record set in 1994.
Agassiz broke its 124-year-old record of 22.8 C set in 1900 with temperatures that reached 23.3 C on Saturday.
Other locations that broke records with temperatures that reached at least 20 C included Abbotsford, Bella Bella, Bella Coola, Hope, Lytton, Merritt, Pemberton, Pitt Meadows, Princeton and Squamish.
Another 37 locations set new records or tied previous record highs on Sunday.
