Heat records broken across the province; northeast residents expecting snow

VANCOUVER — The Calendar says it’s September, but that’s not what many thermometers across the province indicated this weekend.

Temperature records were broken all weekend. And with families affected by the ongoing teachers’ strike, many took advantage of the soaring mercury.

“It’s been amazing. We didn’t expect it at all, so it was such a treat. We thought it was going to rain for sure this weekend,” Liza Laine, who was camping over the weekend, told Global News.

Five records were broken today alone, with Summerland and Castlegar both soaring over 30 degrees.

Businesses across the province were also benefiting from the increased heat.

It was a, “record breaking day for September, after Labour Day we usually see a substantial fall in business and by all means it was like a regular day in August or July. It was extremely busy. We ran out of bicycles,” Thomas Woywitka of Yes Cycle, told Global News.

“This is a nice way to cap off the end of summer, a summer which was probably the second warmest across parts of the south coast here we’ve seen since the forties,” says David Jones of Environment Canada.

But not all British Columbians are so fortunate. Environment Canada has issued weather alerts across the northeast areas of the province near the Peace River and Williston Lake, telling residents to expect five to 10 centimetres of snow.

–With files from Jeremy Hunka and The Canadian Press.