Southern Vancouver Island recorded the strongest wind gusts in B.C. for the second day in a row, while daily temperature record highs were broken once again in parts of the Okanagan and the Kootenays.
It was the second day in a row that southern B.C. was hit with a mix of weather from wind to snow to rain and temperature highs.
Maximum wind gusts
On southern Vancouver Island, Race Rock once again recorded gusts of up to 119 km/h, followed by Victoria Gonzales at 100 km/h, Trial Island Lighthouse at 85 km/h and Kelp Reefs at 81 km/h.
Meanwhile, north Vancouver Island recorded 117 km/h at Sartine Island and 96 km/h at Herbert Island.
In the central coast, Egg Island Lighthouse hit 93 km/h wind gusts and McInnes Island Lighthouse hit 74 km/h.
In the Lower Mainland, Hope Airport recorded wind gusts of up to 113 km/h, followed by Point Atkinson in West Vancouver with 102 km/h. Sandheads and the Vancouver International Airport – both in Richmond – recorded gusts of 80 and 76 km/h, respectively.
Record temperature highs
Six communities in the Okanagan and West Kootenays broke daily temperature highs on Wednesday (Dec. 17).
Castlegar hit 9.1 C, breaking the 2001 record of 6.2 C.
Osoyoos was 11.3 C. The old record of 9.7 C was set in 1997.
Penticton broke a 100-year-old record, hitting 10.5 C. The previous record was 9.4 C set in 1925.
Salmon Arm hit 10.2 C, breaking the previous record of 9.4 C set in 2001.
Summerland was 9.7 C, breaking the 1917 record of 8.9 C.
Trail recorded 8.7 C. The previous record was set in 1939 at 7.2 C.
Rainfall in the Lower Mainland, southern Vancouver Island and Fraser Canyon
In the Lower Mainland, Coquitlam recorded the most rainfall overnight with 70.4 millimetres.
It was followed by Rocky Point Park at 63.8 millimetres, Haig Camp near Hope at 62.6 millimetres, the UBC Research near Maple Ridge at 61 millimetres, Agassiz at 61.2, Pitt Meadows at 58.8 millimetres, Cultus Lake and Chilliwack at 57.4 millimetres each.
Burnaby Mountain recorded 52.6 millimetres, followed by Burnaby south at 52 millimetres. Hope Airport was hit with 50.8 millimetres and Port Moody recorded 46 millimetres.
On the south Island, University of Victoria recorded 57.4 millimetres, followed by 57 millimetres on the Malahat and 53.6 millimetres at Victoria Gonzales.
Hells Gate in the Fraser Canyon recorded 57 millimetres.
Highway 3 – from Hope to Princeton via Allison Pass – recorded 42 millimetres at Nicolum Creek.
In the Elk Valley, Morrissey near Fernie recorded 77 millimetres.
Snowfall on B.C. highways
Meanwhile, some highways in B.C. were hit with snow overnight.
On Highway 5, the Coquihalla Summit between Hope and Merritt, was hit with 44 millimetres of snow, while the Merritt to Kamloops stretch at Helmer Lake was hit with 18 millimetres.
The Okanagan Connector at Pennask Summit got 14 millimetres.
The Trans-Canada Highway from Eagle Pass to Rogers Pass also got a dump of snow. Albert Canyon received 27 millimetres and Nordic 2 got 17 millimetres.
Highway 3’s Kootenay Pass got 17 millimetres of snow.
Highway 97 at Mackenzie received 14 millimetres and in the Peace River South, Braden Road got 14 millimetres of snow as well.