Early morning wind helps Prince George tie temperature record

Prince George came as close as possible to breaking a temperature record but didn’t quite make it.

According to Environment Canada Meteorologist Armel Castellan, Prince George is expecting daytime highs of 10 today (Tuesday), but between midnight and 1:00 am this morning, temperatures actually rose to 12.2 degrees.

“A lot of people would have likely heard the winds were very strong in the Prince George area from the south, so bringing that warm air from the south into the Omineca and Prince George area,” he said.

“Actually it’s tied with the previous record of 12.2 degrees from 1935 for today. We could see it later today maybe eclipse the 12.2 degrees, but I believe we’re going to stay with the ten degrees in the forecast.”

He said the past four overnight minimums would be in the top five for their respective days, but not breaking a record.

“The maximum temperature yesterday (Monday) at 11 was just 1.2 degrees shy of 12.2 degrees, which is the previous daily record for the 29th of January, way back in 1931,” Castellan said.

“There’s definitely a lot of days in January where 11 would break a daily record, but the last few days January are a little bit warmer than the first few days and you would need to get up to 12.”

The record for tomorrow (Jan. 31st) is 11.7, also set in 1935, Castellan said they’re expecting 12 degrees.

Castellan added winter is expected to resume this weekend.

“We do definitely see a return to seasonal temperatures, in fact, a little bit below considering the temperatures might get quite a bit closer to -20, the typical value for Prince George Airport are closer to -12 for the overnight lows for this time of year,” he said.

“We’re getting the weather whiplash again, you obviously felt the temperatures mid-month which were extremely low, and the start of the month was quite warm on the heels of one of the warmest Decembers on record across the Province.”

Environment Canada’s full seven-day forecast can be found here.