Two communities on Vancouver Island beat or tied their daily weather records for Oct. 13, as temperatures dropped below freezing on Thanksgiving day.

Port Alberni tied its daily weather record, while Port Hardy broke its previous record, both set nearly 60 years ago

In Port Alberni, temperatures reached -2.2 °C on Thanksgiving day, tying the community’s previous daily temperature record set in 1966.

Meanwhile, Port Hardy broke its daily temperature record with a chilly -2.3 °C on Tuesday, beating its previous record of -0.6 °C set on Oct. 13, 1966.

Records for Port Alberni have been kept since 1900, while records for Port Hardy have been kept since 1944, according to Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC).

Derek Lee, meteorologist with ECCC, says the record-setting chilly nights are largely due to clear skies in the region.

“It is out of the ordinary because we’re in the calm,” said Lee, noting that normally the Island is experiencing the Pacific storm season, which brings cloud cover to the coast. 

“Because it’s clear skies overnight we’re able to see those cold temperatures down below zero,” he said.

Lee says that generally residents at sea level areas can expect to see overnight lows of about 5 to 6 °C at this time of year, so anything approaching 0 °C or lower is automatically a contender for breaking cold weather records.

It is different for more mountainous or inland areas, however, which can see colder temperatures on average and is where Tuesday’s weather records were broken on the Island, according to Lee.

He adds that Nanaimo, while not breaking any records, also saw one of its top-five coldest Oct. 13 nights on Tuesday.

Lee expects temperatures to warm back up soon as clouds begin rolling over Vancouver Island later this week.

“I think we’re flipping the switch back to rain, though, by the end of the week,” he said.

So far, October has been slightly drier than usual. However, Lee says it’s difficult to measure during the province’s rainy season, since precipitation can fluctuate quickly.

“We could get one big storm and fill that back up,” he said.

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