It wasn’t just warm this weekend in the Cariboo, it was record warm!
Environment Canada Meteorologist Lisa Irving noted that Quesnel and Williams Lake were included in the 40 temperature records that were broken in the province on Saturday and another 38 on Sunday.
Irving said it started on Friday with Quesnel setting a new record at 18.4 degrees and continued on.
“On Friday they set a new temperature record 18. 4 degrees. On Saturday they actually came in second place, believe it or not back in 1926 there was a higher temperature record for Quesnel on March 16 but then yesterday (Sunday) it was 22.8 degrees beating the old record of 17.2 set all the way back in 1902. breaking really long standing records with this mid-March warm up.”
Williams Lake also had well above seasonal average temperatures over the last 48-hours.
“On Saturday a new temperature record of 18.9 degrees and then the temperature went up even higher for Sunday recording 19.5 degrees beating the old record of 14.9 set back in 2007.”
With temperature records on this day (March 18) of 15 to 16 degrees, Irving noted both Williams Lake and Quesnel are on the cusp of setting new ones.
Much cooler temperatures, well below normal, are expected in the Cariboo by Wednesday compared to the above 10 degrees the Region experienced over the weekend.
“We do have a cold front that will move down from the Northeast and we’re going to go through some pretty wild temperature swings.” Irving said, “With overnight temperatures dropping down into the double minus digits it will definitely feel a lot different than the weekend’s weather. Late this week and into the weekend we are looking at a chance of rain or snow. If it’s occurring in the overnight hours when temperatures are the coolest precipitation may fall in the form of snow versus late afternoon when we expect temperatures to try rise up above zero more likely to get rain or a mix of snow and rain. That’s expected from Wednesday to the end of the week.”