Sunny Sunday shatters temperature records in B.C. and Alberta

Residents of Alberta and British Columbia were getting an early taste of summer yesterday, and for some it was the warmest May 5th they've had in nearly 70 years.

Southwestern British Columbia saw the highest temperatures overall, with Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Pemberton and Port Alberni (on Vancouver Island) all topping 30 degrees C, and Pemberton the highest at 32.5°. These were the warmest May 5th temperatures seen in Abbotsford and Chilliwack in 60 years. Other records were broken in White Rock, Whistler, Victoria and Nanaimo, and even the lowest of the record-breaking temperatures, 24.9° at Tofino, stands out because that's the warmest it's been on that day since 1944.

In Alberta, there were only two temperatures recorded that actually broke records — 28.0 degrees in Grande Prairie, beating 27.8° from 1990, and 26.1 degrees in Rocky Mountain House, topping the 1992 record of 25.7°. However, several other areas came very close, including Edmonton, which was only a degree and a half away from breaking a 102-year-old record.

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According to Environment Canada, these record temperatures are due to hot, humid air moving in from over the Pacific Ocean. More summer-like weather is expected from this 'near-stationary' weather pattern, meaning that temperatures in B.C. and Alberta, and even pushing into Saskatchewan, are likely to get up into the high-20s or low-30s for at least today.

These warmer temperatures should back off a bit going into the rest of the week, letting the western provinces cool off slight and join in on the more seasonally-warm weather the rest of the country has been enjoying.

(Photo courtesy: Eric Dreger/The Canadian Press)

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