No coats needed!
I can’t tell you how many times this year I’ve shouted “Do you have your jacket? Don’t forget a coat! It’s not warm out there!” as the boys have run out the door to school. I’m pretty sure they’ve heard it every single school day so far this year. Until today. For the first time in 2018, my youngest went off to school WITHOUT hearing my dire warning, and WITHOUT a jacket or sweater (Ok, sometimes when the weather is miserable he leaves his coat by the door just to defy me -- middle school! Ha! -- but this morning was different).
Temperatures hit the mid-teens by mid-morning.
By this afternoon the mercury is expected to top 20°C in some island communities. I can already hear the collective “woo hoo!”
Conditions this week are more like summer on Vancouver Island than mid-spring. In Victoria alone, temperatures in the high teens and low 20s are what we’d usually expect in June and July, not late April. That said, I’m not complaining!
Climate data courtesy: Environment and Climate Change Canada - http://climate.weather.gc.ca/climate_normals/results
So why is it so warm, anyway?
High pressure is responsible for the dry, warm weather this week. Not only do we have an upper ridge, but a surface high pressure area and a thermal trough all working together to sending warm winds out towards the coast and heat up our island in the Pacific. Our friends in Washington state are enjoying the effects of this atmospheric set-up, too. Afternoons will be warmer inland this week, cooler at the water. Thursday is on track to be the hottest day of the week on the island and the hottest day of the year so far! Inland towns can expect temperatures in the mid- to high 20s, pushing record levels.
How long will the summer-like weather last?
Late Thursday/early Friday cooler marine air begins to push onshore again and just in time for the weekend (Murphy’s Law...) we could get some showers. The low pressure system currently spinning off to the southwest looks like it’ll push northeast later this week, bringing cooler temperatures and some precipitation our way. Forecast models don’t agree on the timing or the intensity just yet, but safe to say we should be ready for another round of unsettled weather. It’s still spring, after all!
