Penticton, Osoyoos hit new record low temps

PENTICTON – Sunny Penticton busted an 85-year-old record low when the temperature dropped to -18.5 Celsius this morning, with the previous record being -17.8 C in 1929.

A strong ridge of high pressure has persisted over the province for several days setting off record plunges. Osoyoos was also hit with an icy blast this a.m. with -19.3 C. The previous record for Osoyoos for Feb. 6 was -15 C set in 1989.

The cold weather attacks have also hit the Lower Mainland setting off records there. Vancouver had a low of -9.9 C this morning. It's previous low score for Feb. 6 was -7.8 C set in 1948. The spot that dropped the most from the strong ridge of high pressure air was Puntzi Mountain with -41.1 C. It's previous record was -38.9 set in 1975.

As for Penticton's future it will be more cold for Friday with a low of -14 C and a high of -7 C. Saturday's temperature could drop to -11 C or rise to -8 C. Sunday could go from as low as -10 C to as high as -5 C.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Shannon Quesnel at squesnel@infotelnews.ca, call 250-488-3065 or tweet @InfoNewsPentict.