Basking in the sunshine: (l-r) Eva Patten, Margaret McWalter, Sarah Bonnar with two-year-old Maggie and four-year-old Mason, enjoy the beautiful weather that showcased the library’s Touch A Truck event yesterday

Prince George, BC – Dust off the gardening tools, wipe off the lawn chairs, and break out the BBQ – spring has truly arrived!

In fact, it will seem more like summer this weekend.  Environment Canada Meteorologist, Doug Lundquist, says a big ridge of high pressure is building up and sunshine will be the ‘order’ of the week.

"We’re expecting by early next week it’s going to be well above average for temperature," says Lundquist.  "Our normal high is about 16 and we’re forecasting a high of 26 on Monday, which is about 10-degrees above average."

In fact, Lundquist says the weather expected this month may help to erase any lingering bad memories of April, which was an average of 2.3-degrees colder than normal.  There was slightly more precipitation last month, too – normally, the region sees about 30-millimetres, and last month, we had between 45- and 50mm – and, the meteorologist points out, with the colder temperature, more of that ‘wet stuff’ was likely to fall as white stuff.

But the immediate future looks bright – after Monday’s scorcher, temperatures are expected to remain in the low 20s for the rest of the week.  In fact, Lundquist says, "For the next month to month-and-a-half, there’s a high probability that it will be above average temperatures, so that’s a bit of good news after the cold April."

Two-year-old Sebastian Watts and his five-year-old sister, Morgen, agree.  The pair made good use of their rubber boots and yesterday’s sunshine to splash in all that remained of the ice at the Civic Plaza’s outdoor rink.