105-year-old temperature-dipping record broken in B.C. town

February 24, 2022

Vancouver, February 24: More than a dozen temperature records were broken in B.C. Wednesday as an Arctic air mass arrived over the province.

Preliminary data shared by Environment Canada revealed 17 records fell due to low morning temperatures after weather advisories were in place for several days.

Several of the records broken in B.C. are decades old, including one in Duncan that was set more than a century ago. On Wednesday morning, temperatures in that city dipped to -7.7 C. The previous record of -7.2 C was set in 1917.

Other temperature records broken in B.C. according to Environment Canada’s preliminary data include:

Campbell River area – new record of -9.5, old record of -6.6 set in 1982.
Hope Slide area – new record of -16.5, old record of -14.8 set in 1979.
Malahat area – new record of -7, old record of -6.3 set in 2011.
Nanaimo area – new record of -7.5, old record of -5.6, date set not indicated.
Port Alberni area – new record of -9.5, old record of -7.2 set in 1922.
Port Hardy area – new record of -4.6, old record of -4.3 set in 1982.
Powell River area – new record of -5.5, old record of -4.5 set in 2017.
Qualicum Beach area – new record of -6.9, old record of -4.6 set in 2018.
Sechelt area – new record of -4.7, old record of -3.6 set in 2018.
Sparwood area – new record of -28.2, old record of -26.7 set in 1956.
Squamish area – new record of -6.1, old record of -5.5 set in 2018.
Tofino area – new record of -4, old record of -3.3 set in 1982.
Trail area – new record of -17.4, old record of -17.1 set in 2018.
Victoria area – new record of -6, old record of -5.9 set in 1993.
West Vancouver area – new record of -5.7, old record of -3.1 set in 2018.
White Rock area – new record of -5.5, old record of -4.4 set in 1957.

As of Thursday morning, only Metro Vancouver, Howe Sound and Fraser Valley remained under any sort of weather advisory. The special weather statement for those regions warned overnight temperatures could dip to -5 C, but feel like -10 C with wind chill.

After that, “a gradual warming trend” is expected to start on the weekend, Environment Canada’s advisory said.

Earlier this month, regions across B.C. broke other records, but for warm temperatures. On Feb. 7, 11 communities saw records fall over a so-called false spring, including some records that were more than a century old.