B.C. heat to be replaced by rain, dusting of snow

VANCOUVER - Environment Canada says unseasonable heat in British Columbia is ending and rain or snow will arrive in some areas as early as Friday.

The weather office says nine temperature records were set Wednesday across the province, including four on Vancouver Island, where a high of 21.5 C in Port Alberni broke the old mark of 20.6 C set 104 years ago.

There were other records in Powell River, Whistler, Pemberton, Trail and in Tatlayoko Lake, west of Williams Lake, but forecasters say the heat will be replaced by the first rain in more than a month, while Interior mountain passes will see a dusting of snow.

Environment Canada predicts the rain and snow will begin Friday afternoon and continue through Saturday as a colder air mass sweeps across the province.

Rain accumulations are expected to be in the double digits on southern Vancouver Island, but little more than one millimetre is forecast by early Saturday in the Sechelt area, where that region's main water reservoir has fallen to critically low levels, prompting a state of emergency.

More rain is expected Sunday and next week around Sechelt and over the south coast, where the most severe level of drought is in effect, but in northeastern B.C., which is also ranked at Level 5 drought, any precipitation would likely fall as snow because overnight temperatures in some areas could dip to -11 C by Monday.