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Hot, dry weather across much of the mid-Island has broken a number of temperature records over recent days. (Image Credit: File photo/NanaimoNewsNOW)
weekend scorcher

Nanaimo temperature records tumble amid early May heatwave

May 4, 2026 | 8:49 AM

NANAIMO — The first weekend of May proved to be one for the record books—literally.

Data from Environment Canada showed the monitoring station at Nanaimo Airport registered record temperatures on both Saturday, May 2, and Sunday, May 3, as a ridge of high pressure brought unseasonably warm conditions and largely clear, blue skies.

Saturday saw Nanaimo break a 2016 record by just under half a degree when the mercury reached 27.4 degrees Celsius, while Sunday smashed a 1946 record by 2.5 degrees as instruments in the monitoring station recorded a maximum temperature of 28.1 degrees.

Records in the Nanaimo area have been kept since 1892.

The Harbour City wasn’t the only community basking in the heat and sunshine on Sunday.

Cache Creek, Lillooet, Osoyoos and Pemberton all reached over 30 degrees, while Comox, Campbell River, Port Alberni, Sechelt, and two stations in Victoria all set new records in the high 20s.

One monitoring station in Victoria Harbour saw the temperature reach 26.9 degrees, which broke a record of 25 degrees set in 1898.

More hot and dry conditions are expected through the foreseeable future, with forecasters calling for temperatures in the low to mid 20s for the first half of the week, before temperatures return to more seasonal norms beginning Thursday, May 7 and through the weekend.

No rain is forecast over the next seven days.

Average temperatures on the mid-Island for early May are maximums of around 16 degrees, and overnight lows of seven.

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