Temperatures soared to record-breaking heights on Wednesday, making for a memorable first day of spring.
A whopping 79 new records were set across the country, with majority being in Western Canada.
According to Environment Canada, this kind of widespread heat in March hasn’t been seen in 25 years.
Hover mouse over locations on map below to view the new record and old record for each location
A strong upper ridge in the jet stream pulled in warm air from the south and a high pressure system kept the skies clear and sunny for much of the west.
The warmth was even felt all way up north, where Yoho Lake in the Northwest Territories hit 21.8 C — an all-time March record for the community.
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Easterly down-slope winds also helped boost temperatures on the west coast.
British Columbia was the hottest place in Canada, recording a staggering 25.9 C in both Hope and Squamish.
Wednesday was the fourth day of record-breaking heat for B.C., with a total of 129 records broken since Sunday.
Squamish, Chilliwack and Agathe broke all-time March records on Wednesday and Tofino broke an all-time March record on Tuesday.
Some of those records were centuries old, dating back to the 1800s.
There was a very clear divide between the provincial hot spots on Wednesday, showing that the warmest air sat in the west for the first day of spring.
The upper-ridge responsible for this warm weather across the west is tracking east and will start breaking down Thursday and Friday.
WATCH BELOW: Temperatures in Eastern Canada are expected to remain below normal for the first weeks of April, but most of the country will see a warm spring overall, according to Global News’ Chief Meteorologist Anthony Farnell.
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