102-year-old low temperature record broken in B.C. community

A sign welcomes visitors to Merritt, B.C., on Friday, Nov. 19, 2021. (Jeff McIntosh / The Canadian Press)

New temperature records for April 24 were set in four B.C. communities on Friday, but they weren’t all the same kind of record.

While Bella Bella saw record heat, Merritt, Nakusp and Trail all set new marks for cold, according to data released by Environment and Climate Change Canada Saturday morning.

Merritt’s record low temperature broke a mark that had stood for 102 years. The previous all-time low in the city on April 24 was -5.6 C, set back in 1924. On Friday, the mercury fell to -7.2 C, the coldest temperature recorded on the date since record-keeping began in Merritt in 1918.

Trail’s record, by contrast, was fairly recent. The record daily low for that community was -2.3 C, set 17 years ago in 2009. On Friday, the temperature dropped as low as -3.1 C.

Nakusp’s new record low for April 24 is also -3.1 C, breaking the previous mark of -2.5 C, which was set in 1984.

In Bella Bella, by contrast, Friday’s high was 20.9 C, almost a full degree warmer than the previous record for that date, which was 20 C in 1989.

The temperature records Environment Canada reports are based on “a selection of historical stations in each geographic area that were active during the period of record,” the weather agency says.