Next week could have a day of record breaking temperatures nearing double digits in parts of the Cariboo.
On Tuesday, December 5th, Environment Canada is expecting Quesnel and Williams Lake to reach up to 9 degrees, and 100 Mile House getting as high as 6.
Meteorologist, Louis Kohanyi says these temperatures aren’t common this time of year.
“It is quite unusual. If we look at the normal for early December, usually the maximum would be -2, and the minimum would be -9.” says Kohanyi.
“So we’re definitely looking at temperatures above normal.”
The record for Williams Lake on that day is 6.1 back in 1965, with Quesnel’s record being 6.6 in 2015, and 100 Mile House being 4.1 in 2003.
Although one day next week could break a daily temperature record, up until this point in the year, temperatures hasn’t been nearly as cold as last year, and has even had less precipitation.
Kohanyi references the temperature being -17 degrees on December 2nd last year, with this year sitting at around 0.
He says this is due to a lack of arctic outbreak from the north, with the flow this year has been mostly from the southwest.
It’s also attributed to this year being an El Niño year, which also brings warmer temperatures.
Kohanyi says they will be expecting these warmer than normal temperatures from December through February, but precipitation should be near normal.