Kamloops records warmest day in more than a century

It was a beautiful spring day across the Thompson-Okanagan yesterday, but perhaps more so in Kamloops.

Environment Canada meteorologist Lisa Erven says Kamloops's daytime high yesterday, March 18, was 19.5 Celsius, the second warmest on record. The record high of 21.1 C was set in 1910.

Penticton reached a high of 16.6 C. That city previously recorded a high for March 18 of 16.7 C on three previous occasions, putting yesterday’s high in fourth spot.

Osoyoos came in with its third warmest daily high for March 18 at 18.3 C, not quite beating the current record of 20 C, set in 1990.

Kamloops and the Okanagan could see a thunderstorm or two later this afternoon and evening, with highs just nudging into the double digits in most locations.

“We are starting to get into those springtime dynamics, where the atmosphere gets a little more unstable, and a risk of thunderstorms starts to pop up in the public forecast,” Erven says.

Erven says the Coquihalla saw four centimetres of snow last night on the Hope to Merritt section of the highway, with a forecast for flurries on the Hope to Merritt section with possible accumulations of up to two cm today.

Thunderstorms are also possible along the Coquihalla Highway corridor this afternoon.

Another five to 10 cm of snow could fall tonight on the Hope to Merritt and Okanagan connector sections of the Coquihalla.

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