In June, Lytton smashed the Canadian record for hottest day on record by recording a high of 49.6°C on June 29, one day before the village burned to the ground.
Ashcroft, Kamloops, Lillooet, Kelowna and Osoyoos also eclipsed the previous 84-year-old temperature record of 45°C that was set in Saskatchewan in 1937.
Five months later, British Columbia has pushed its way into the record books again courtesy of a shockingly warm first day of December.
In total, 20 daily temperature records were broken, and another one was tied, in BC on Wednesday, but most eyes were on the South Okanagan, where Penticton hit 22.5°C.
Not only is that a new record for Penticton, smashing the old record of 11.2°C from 2012, it broke the provincial mark and tied the national mark for hottest December day on record.
The previous record-holder for BC was Lillooet, where it hit 22.2°C on Dec. 3, 1933.
Nationally, Penticton tied the Hamilton, Ont. record that was set back on Dec. 3, 1982.
Geoff Coulson, a warning preparedness meteorologist with Environment Canada, told NowMedia that Penticton has tied the national record as of now, but that could change.
“Some of the climatologists within EC are still hunting around in some of the records and that may be updated in the coming days, but that is the way things stand now,” he explained.
“There was a site in Collingwood, Ont. that got to 25°C, but the sighting might have been suspect, it was maybe a volunteer station. I think that’s why they’re probably still going to try to look at some of these.”
Coulson added that the most likely suspects to match or exceed what Penticton hit on Wednesday are in southwestern Ontario and the Niagara Peninsula.
As for why we saw record-breaking warmth to start December, Coulson told NowMedia on Wednesday that it was due to the same atmospheric river system that has soaked BC with record-breaking rainfall.
“It's a testament to the power of the system that's been affecting the coast over the last day or so, bringing lots of moisture to the windward side of the coast mountains and the Lower Mainland,” he said.
“But then as it comes down the other side of the mountains, some sinking motion warms the air up and we've seen some pretty amazing temperatures being reported in many locations.”
Here’s a full list of daily temperature records that were broken or tied in BC on Wednesday:
- Cache Creek: New record of 15.6°C (Old record 12.2°C in 1949)
- Cranbrook: New record of 12.8°C (Old record 9.6°C in 2008)
- Creston: New record of 15.5°C (Old record 10.6°C in 1926)
- Gibsons: New record of 12.2°C (Old record 12°C in 1988)
- Kelowna: New record of 17.8°C (Old record 13°C in 2012)
- Malahat: New record of 10.5°C (Old record 10°C in 1988)
- Merritt: New record of 15°C (Old record 12.8°C in 1941)
- Nakusp: New record of 15°C (Old record 11.7°C in 1972)
- Nelson: New record of 13.4°C (Old record 8.5°C in 1995)
- Osoyoos: New record of 18.1°C (Old record 12.3°C in 2012)
- Pemberton: New record of 7.9°C (Old record 7.2°C in 1943)
- Penticton: New record of 22.5°C (Old record 11.2°C in 2012)
- Pitt Meadows: New record of 13.4°C (Old record 13.3°C in 1941)
- Princeton: New record of 15.1°C (Old record 10°C in 2012)
- Salmon Arm: New record of 17.9°C (Old record 11.4 in 1995)
- Sechelt: Tied record of 12.2°C set originally in 1958
- Sparwood: New record of 11.2°C (Old record 10.2°C in 2008)
- Squamish: New record of 12.5°C (Old record 12.2°C in 1965)
- Summerland: New record of 20.7°C (Old record 11.3°C in 2012)
- Trail: New record of 13.1°C (Old record 10.7°C in 2012)
- Vernon: New record of 17.5°C (Old record 11.2°C in 2012)
