Record heat invades the west

Beach weather continues in southern BC

Thursday, September 12, 2013, 11:37 AM -

The calendar may say fall is barely a week away, but Mother Nature has other ideas in British Columbia as a late summer sizzler has most of the province basking in unseasonably warm temperatures.

Seventeen records tumbled Wednesday, including one in the Fraser Valley community of Agassiz, east of Vancouver, where the mercury hit 34.6 degrees, smashing that district's Sept. 11 record of 31.7 degrees, set 121 years ago.

Cloverdale, Abbotsford, Chilliwack and Hope joined Agassiz in climbing above the 33 degree mark, while records also fell in Pitt Meadows, Victoria, Nanaimo, Port Hardy, Powell River, Squamish, Pemberton, West Vancouver and White Rock.

Things should cool off by a few degrees in most areas on Thursday, but residents of northwestern B.C. will feel the record heat for at least another day.

The 1960 mark of 25.6 degrees was wiped out in Terrace on Wednesday as the thermometer reached 27.8. And in Stewart, 300 kilometres to the north, Wednesday's 24.5 daytime high broke that community's Sept. 11 heat record set two years ago.

However, sun worshipers should enjoy the late season rays while they can because familiar September rains are due by the weekend or early next week.