Warm fall weekend: 15 daily high temperature records set Sunday

Environment Canada says temperature records were broken Sunday as an atmospheric river brought warm and moist tropical air to B.C.

On Vancouver Island, there were three areas where the records were broken. A high of 15.9 C was recorded at the Victoria International Airport, beating the old record of 15.6 C set in 1936.

In Campbell River, the old record of 11.7 C in 1976 was broken with a new temperature of 12 C. And Port Alberni saw 15.9 C on Sunday, breaking the old record of 14.3 C in 1995.

The other communities that broke records were Bella Bella (12.9 C). Bella Coola (12.6 C), Burns Lake (10.6 C), Chetwynd (12.6 C), Clinton (11 C), Mackenzie (8.5 C), Merritt (15.2 C), Prince George (11.9 C), Puntzi Mountain (11.3 C), Smithers (11.7 C), Terrace (10.6 C) and Williams Lake (12.4 C). 

The atmospheric river also brought heavy rain to the B.C. coast over the weekend. On Vancouver Island, Ucluelet saw the most rain with 210 millimetres recorded, followed by Tofino at 167 mm, Zeballos at 106 mm and Port Hardy at 99 mm.

Atmospheric rivers are relatively narrow regions in the atmosphere that are responsible for transporting much of the moisture from the tropics northward. They are formed when winds over the ocean force atmospheric water vapour into bands. These so-called “rivers” then travel across the Pacific from the tropics and are sometimes directed toward land.

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