Just a month after a record-breaking cold snap, the Elk Valley has enjoyed an unseasonal heatwave.
Last week, temperatures soared to nearly 20C as a high pressure ridge blew in warm air from the south.
The unseasonably hot weather smashed records across B.C., including in Sparwood, where the region’s official weather station is located.
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On Thursday, the mercury reached 19.8C, making it the warmest March 21 since records began in 1964. The previous record of 19.5C was set in 1999.
Friday was a little cooler but still a record breaker, with a maximum temperature of 16.5C, slightly higher than the previous warmest March 22, 16.1C in 2004.
“We had a good ridge of high pressure over most of the province, bringing in lots of warm air into our area,” said Environment and Climate Change Canada meteorologist, Bobby Sekhon.
“We set records all over the place, all the way from southern B.C. to the Yukon, so there was certainly a lot of unseasonably warm air in the area, which is a contrast to what we had last month.”
There were a number of extreme cold warnings issued in February as wind chill values plunged to as low as -40C, with two new records for lowest maximum temperature set in Sparwood.
However, it appears spring has arrived in the Elk Valley.
On Monday, Sekhon was expecting the weather to settle into more seasonal temperatures.
“The normal high for this time of year is 6C and temperatures seem to be hanging right around there for Wednesday, Thursday and even into Friday,” he said.
“Then Saturday, we’re forecasting a high of 12C, which is a few degrees warmer than normal. However, the weekend forecast has some uncertainties with it because we are seeing a little bit of divergence in the models that we’re looking at, so we’ll have a better idea of that in a couple of days.
“Nonetheless we’re not expecting any cold periods to come up and temperatures are looking at or above normal.”