The coldest day of February didn’t just break a daily temperature record: it shattered it.
According to the Southeast Fire Centre weather office in Castlegar, the mercury dipped to –19.7 on the 25th, nearly five degrees below the previous record of –14.8, set in 1993. And it wasn’t far off the all-time coldest temperature for the month of –21 set on February 3, 1996.
Forecaster Ron Lakeman attributed the bone-chilling spell to the outbreak of an Arctic airmass between the 24th and 26th. The average temperature for the month was also 2.2 degrees colder than normal, and the coldest since 1993.
Yet a record daily high was also set on the 12th of 9.8 degrees, which Lakeman says “was unique in that it occurred overnight, largely due to strong gusty winds from the south.”