Langley residents had a brief preview of summer this week.
The heat was on in the Langleys and across B.C.’s South Coast, especially on Thursday when the local temperature reached a high of 25.8 C.
In total, 16 heat records fell across B.C. as a ridge of high pressure blanketed the southern half of the province.
“We did record multiple records for the Fraser Valley,” reported Environment Canada meteorologist Cindy Yu.
The maximum temperature at Abbotsford Airport was recorded at 27.6 C, breaking the previous record for April 26 of 25.9 C, set in 2004.
A longstanding heat record for April 26 fell in Chilliwack, where it hit 28.6 C, surpassing the old record of 27.8 C set in 1926.
“The most impressive record, here, (for April 26) is in Agassiz,” Yu said. “The new record is 28.6 (C), the old record is 28.3 set in 1900, about 11 years after the (weather) station was established.”
The reason behind the summer-like temperatures was a low pressure system that stalled near the shore of the California Coast.
“The same troft brought a lot of the rain prior to this break that we had,” Yu said. “It was cut off from the flow so it was just sort of hanging off the California coast so as result we really didn’t have any incoming weather. The jet stream was bringing everything through northern B.C. but really nothing was crossing into southern B.C.”
The low pressure troft is finally on the move and will spread cloud cover Friday night, bringing cooler temperatures and showers Saturday, and “more organized showers rainshowers tomorrow (Saturday) night and into Sunday.”