Fort St. John, B.C., feels blast of warm winter weather after harsh cold and record snowfall

Fort St. John, B.C. saw a temperature swing heading into the weekend. It was -25 C on Friday, but above zero at 6 C on Saturday.

Environment Canada meteorologist Dave Wray says it's been a cold winter, but a tropical air mass from the Hawaii is responsible for the warm, chinook-like conditions.

"I guess one could say the warm-up is long due, although this is quite the warm-up," he said.

Fort St John and Dawson Creek are expected to see daytime highs around 8 C over the next week, which Wray says is roughly 15 C to 20 C above normal.

More than 100 centimetres of snow fell in December in Fort St. John, putting pressure on the city to keep streets clear.

New daily snowfall records were set by Fort St. John on Dec. 10 and 13, with 11.9 cm and 11.5 cm, respectively, according to Environment Canada.

The weather agency said the record snowfall was driven by Pacific moisture pushing over the Rockies meeting an Arctic air mass.

This weekend's warm weather could be cause for concern as snow melts.

"You don't want the drains to be blocked or anything like that because you might experience some flooding," Wray said.

Daytime highs in northeast B.C. this time of year are usually around -10 C, dropping to -19 C at night, Wray explained.

Before Christmas, temperatures dropped to below -30 C and windchills plunged to -40 C.

"For the end of this month, it's not looking to be as cold as we had experienced," he said.

Winter is far from over and flurries are expected, he added, though temperatures won't be as harsh as December. Wray said there could lows of -13 C to -15 C, and highs of -5 C to -10 C.

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