Esquimalt Harbour marked the hot spot in both the province and country to kick off Wednesday (March 26) with a balmy temperature of 11 C as of 6 a.m.

Fort Nelson and Burns Lake airports came in coldest in the province for the morning, at -5.4 C, according to Environment and Climate Change Canada, which posts the hot and cold spots hourly on its weather forecast map.

The coldest in the country hit Eureka, Nunavut with a low of -35.6.

The local hot spot comes one day after some Greater Victoria residents broke out the shorts and T-shirts Tuesday as a warm air mass made its way across the province, with five communities breaking daily record temperatures.

The lone Island record broken was at the Victoria International Airport in North Saanich, where a recorded temperature of 16.3 C broke the 1992 record of 15.8. Records in that area have been kept since 1914.

Other March 25 daily records broken in B.C. include White Rock (recorded at White Rock Campbell Scientific) hitting a high of 19.3 C. breaking the 17.2 record set in 1940; Sechelt and Gibsons (recorded at Sechelt Auto) reached 16.4, above the 2012 record of 15.4; and Smithers hit 12.9 C, just barely breaking the 2019 record of 12.8.