Four northeast B.C. communities break temperature day records

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — New temperature records have been set across much of northeastern B.C. this week.

According to Environment Canada’s weather summaries page, new day records were set on Tuesday, August 26th in Chetwynd, Dawson Creek, Fort Nelson and Fort St. John.

That means that the maximum temperature on Tuesday — 29.8 C in Fort St. John, 31 C in Fort Nelson, 31.1 C in Dawson Creek and 32 in Chetwynd — was the highest of any given August 26th since records began being kept for those communities.

Fort St. John’s temperature broke a record of 29.4 C set in 1933, the oldest record broken in the northeast. Fort Nelson’s previous record of 30 C was set in 1950.

Down in the South Peace, meanwhile, the previous records of 29.4 C in Dawson Creek and 28.9 C in Chetwynd are far more recent, being set in 2022 and 2023, respectively.

Other communities across the province that broke their day records for any given August 26th include Kamloops, Kelowna and Lillooet.

The news comes amid a heatwave across the province. 

Environment Canada’s forecasts for Fort St. John urge residents to expect daily highs at or above 30 C until Saturday, August 30th, when temperatures will begin to decline ahead of expected showers on Monday, September 1st.

These aren’t the only environmental records that have been broken in the Peace region this summer. Earlier in August, Fort St. John set a new day record for precipitation on any given August 12th.