Skaha Lake near Penticton. It was a beautiful spring-like day throughout the Thompson-Okanagan yesterday, and Environment Canada has the broken high temperature records to prove it.

(STEVE ARSTAD / iNFOnews.ca)

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN – It was a beautiful spring-like day throughout the Thompson-Okanagan yesterday, and Environment Canada has the broken high temperature records to prove it.

No fewer than eight records were broken on Saturday, March 5 in the region thanks to a warm southerly flow of air paired with all the sunshine we received, according to a weather summery from Environment Canada.

While the Kamloops area didn’t see a record-breaking high temperature, it was warm enough in Merritt and Clinton to set new records. Merritt reached a high of 14.3 Celsius and the mercury climbed to 10.3 C breaking the old records set in 2005.

The high temperature was 16.1 C in Salmon Arm, almost 2 degrees warmer than on the same day in 1987.

In the Okanagan, records were set in Vernon, Kelowna, Summerland, Penticton and Osoyoos, with temperatures climbing into the 17 C range Saturday. Osoyoos was the hot spot with a high of 17.6.

While temperatures will remain above normal this week, they likely won’t get high enough to break any more records. Environment Canada is forecasting a mix of sun and cloud, showers and highs a few degrees above average for this time of year.

Here’s a list of the new weather records set on Saturday, March 5 in the Thompson-Okanagan region provided by Environment Canada:

MERRITT AREA
New Record of 14.3
Old Record of 14.0 Set in 2005
Records began in 1918

CLINTON AREA
New Record of 10.9
Old Record of 10.3 Set in 2005
Records began in 1973

SALMON ARM AREA
New Record of 16.1
Old Record of 14.4 Set in 1924
Records began in 1893

VERNON AREA
New Record of 17.1
Old Record of 13.7 Set in 2005
Records began in 1900

KELOWNA AREA
New Record of 16.7
Old Record of 13.0 Set in 1987
Records began in 1899

SUMMERLAND AREA
New Record of 17.0
Old Record of 15.0 Set in 1987
Records began in 1907

PENTICTON AREA
New Record of 16.9
Old Record of 15.3 Set in 1987
Records began in 1907

OSOYOOS AREA
New Record of 17.6
Old Record of 16.8 Set in 1992
Records began in 1954

To contact the reporter for this story, email Howard Alexander at halexander@infonews.ca. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.

News from © iNFOnews, 2016