Get ready, Prince George. Summer weather is on the way this weekend.
We could be in for record-breaking heat, with daytime highs of 26 C expected Saturday and 24 C on Sunday, with nothing but sunshine in the forecast starting on Thursday.
“The real warmth starts around Friday in the Prince George region, and it’s expected to last until at least Sunday,” said Environment Canada meteorologist Derek Lee.
By the time we get to 26 degrees on Saturday, that’s actually 12 degrees warmer than normal for this time of year. It might break the all-time record of 23.9 degrees from 1922.
Lee said Sunday’s high of 24 will be close to the 1931 record of 25.6 C.
The entire province will be under the influence of high pressure, which will keep the skies clear and allow for maximum penetration of the sun’s rays.
“How we know we can see a spike in temperatures it’s basically from ridges of high pressure, that’s the overall pattern that causes warm temperatures for B.C. in the late spring and summertime,” said Lee.
“When we’re getting constant sunshine that has great ability to warm surface up, especially when we’re getting longer daylight hours.”
The highs today and tomorrow will be close to the normal 11 C today and 9 C Tuesday, warming to 15 C on Wednesday with a chance of showers all three days.
April has been unseasonably cool throughout much of B.C. In Prince George this month, we’ve averaged only 9.2 C for daytime highs and -3.1 C for the lows.
The hottest day of the month so far was April 20, when it reached 13.1 C at Prince George Airport, and the coldest day of the month was 10.7 C on April 4. Just in the past week, we had two days, Wednesday and Thursday when it dipped to -6 C at night.
