2 B.C. communities just saw their warmest February day on record

Vancouver's iconic mountain trail has opened in early February as warm winter weather persists.

An “unseasonably warm airmass” brought two B.C. communities their highest ever February temperature and broke daily records in more than a dozen other places Wednesday, according to Environment and Climate Change Canada.

Records have been kept since 1930 in the Tatlayoko Lake area and since 1977 in Bella Bella. On Wednesday, those locales saw not only their hottest Feb. 4 on record, but their hottest temperatures ever seen in the month of February.

In Bella Bella, the mercury rose to 19.5 C, breaking the previous monthly record by more than three degrees. The community had previously recorded highs of 16.4 C on Feb. 4, 1993, and Feb. 24, 1981.

In Tatlayoko Lake, the new record set Wednesday was 18.1 C, and the previous all-time high for February was 17.8 C, set almost 96 years ago on Feb. 7, 1930.

Bella Bella’s record was the warmest of the daily marks set Wednesday, while Mackenzie—at 5.3 C—had the lowest record-breaking temperature. The previous record there for Feb. 4 was 5 C, recorded in 1984.

Records were broken on the coast and in the Interior, on Vancouver Island and in the Lower Mainland. In all, 15 places set new daily records Wednesday. In alphabetical order, they were:

• Bella Bella area: New record of 19.5 C, old record of 16.4 C set in 1993
• Bella Coola area: New record of 16.9 C, old record of 9.9 C set in 1998
• Cache Creek area: New record of 11.2 C, old record of 10 C set in 1967
• Cranbrook area: New record of 11.7 C, old record of 9.1 C set in 2009
• Dawson Creek area: New record of 11.1 C, old record of 10.5 C set in 1991
• Hope area: New record of 12.1 C, old record of 11.5 C set in 2018
• Mackenzie area: New record of 5.3 C, old record of 5 C set in 1984
• Nelson area: New record of 9.8 C, old record of 9.4 C set in 1953
• Port Hardy area: New record of 13.8 C, old record of 12.4 C set in 1992
• Powell River area: New record of 15.2 C, old record of 13.9 C set in 1941
• Qualicum Beach area: New record of 14.5 C, old record of 13.6 C set in 2011
• Sechelt area: New record of 14.8 C, old record of 13.7 C set in 2010
• Sparwood area: New record of 11.4 C, old record of 9.3 C set in 2005
• Tatlayoko Lake area: New record of 18.1 C, old record of 12.8 C set in 1941
• West Vancouver area: New record of 15.6 C, old record of 14.9 C set in 1993

ECCC considers the new records preliminary. They are based on data from a variety of weather stations that were active in each area during the period of record.

The high temperature records come as B.C.’s largest city faces the possibility of its first snow-free winter in 43 years. The last time the City of Vancouver didn’t see at least a dusting of sea-level snow at any point during the winter was in 1982-83, according to ECCC meteorologist Ken Dosanjh.

The unseasonably warm winter and “favourable weather conditions” also allowed the reopening of the Grouse Grind trail on Wednesday, about two months earlier than its typical April opening.

With files from The Canadian Press