Northern Vancouver Island and British Columbia's central coast are facing the return of strong winds reaching 90 kilometres an hour just days after the last such warning in the region.
Environment Canada says coastal areas from around Bella Bella south to around Sayward on Vancouver Island including Port Hardy and Port McNeill may see power outages and fallen tree branches because of the high winds, which are expected to last through Saturday morning.
A previous wind advisory on Wednesday warned of gusts up to 120 kilometres an hour along exposed areas of B.C.'s southern and central coasts.
The winds earlier in the week knocked out power to more than 1,000 BC Hydro customers on Cortes Island, along with thousands of others on Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands and the mainland, while a Christmas Day storm halted ferry service and led to some road closures on Vancouver Island.
The El Niño climate phenomenon and a ridge of high pressure over B.C.'s Interior continue to bring record high temperatures to the province, as another set of century-old marks were surpassed Thursday.
Environment Canada says Port Alberni recorded a high of 10.6 C on Thursday, breaking the previous record of 10.0 C set in 1929. Records in the area have been kept since 1900.
Prince George saw temperatures spike to 8.7 C, breaking a record set in 1919, while Quesnel reached 9.1 C, surpassing a mark set in 1901. Vernon recorded 6.1 C, breaking a record from 1908.
The federal weather agency says other heat records were broken in Vancouver and White Rock, while Whistler on Thursday matched its previous high of 5.6 C set in 1956.
Multiple records fell on Wednesday at weather stations throughout Greater Victoria — including at the University of Victoria, Hartland, Gonzales Point and Esquimalt — where a high of 12.9 C surpassed a record for Dec. 27 set in 1922. Records at some of the stations have been kept since 1874.
— With a file from the Times Colonist
