It was no doubt an extremely hot day across much of the province as over a dozen places broke temperature records.
The scorching sun brought out the heat on Thursday as a mid-August heat wave hit its peak. While Vancouver International Airport only recorded a high of 23 C, much of Metro Vancouver and the Southern Interior saw temperatures above 30 C.
A total of 17 weather stations across the province felt record temperatures for the date, including West Vancouver and White Rock.
READ MORE: Prolonged hot weather for Metro Vancouver
It was a beautiful beach day for West Van with a record 29 C, just slightly above the previous record of 28.7 C observed in 2015.
Ice cream cones on White Rock’s pier were likely melting as the city hit 32.1 C, well above the 29.3 C record set last year.
Pitt Meadows also reached a record 32.2 C and Agassiz topped 34.9 C.
And Squamish was the hottest spot in the country Thursday with a high of 36.4 C, up 5 C from last year.
Victoria saw unusually warm weather as well. The typically cool region set records at the University of Victoria (at 31.7 C) and Esquimalt Harbour (25.1 C) – the warmest it’s been on this day since 1999.
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Up island, Port Alberni, a usual hot spot, hit 35.5 C. Nanaimo was hot at 33.3 C, but not quite hot enough to blast the 1965 record of 33.9 C.
Other notable record-breaking temperatures are:
Bella Coola Airport – 30.7 C, old record: 29.9 (2012)
Cathedral Point – 28.6 C, old record: 27.1 (2015)
Discovery Island – 27.7 C, old record: 25.2 (2015)
Howe Sound – Pam Rocks – 26.6 C, old record: 26.2 (2015)
Malahat (south island) – 31.5 C, old record: 29.6 (2015)
Race Rocks Lightstation – 28.5 C, old record: 25.7 (2015)
Sheringham Point – 29.7 C, old record: 26.7 (2015)
Sisters Islets – 25.3 C, old record: 24.4 (2008)
Solander Island – 17.6 C, old record: 17.3 (2015)
Temperatures are expected to remain hot into the weekend, especially inland, and cool back down to normal by next week.