You're forgiven if you left your house Monday and thought for a second you were in Honolulu, Philadelphia or Austin, Texas.
Those three American cities registered temperatures of 24 C Monday, the same as the high temperature at the Ottawa International Airport.
Ottawa's old high temperature record for March 19 was 16 C, which had been broken by noon.
"It's happening a little bit every year, but this is unusual, this amount of heat," said one person.
"It's fun to have and hopefully it's going to last," said another.
With people in shorts, sandals and sundresses everywhere it's easy to forget that spring doesn't officially start until 1:14 a.m. Tuesday.
"I'm happy to not have to put my kids in snowsuits," said a mother.
The weather is raising concerns for some that this could be a pattern because of global warming.
"We are seeing those signs that are real and clear, the climate is changing," said John Bennett of the Sierra Club. "Global warming is a real thing."
Bennett said Canadians should be worried about the impact of unseasonably high temperatures.
"The model that predicts the changes we're expecting to see includes much shorter springs, much hotter springs, much shorter winters and we've had that," he said.
One climatologist points to the jet stream as another cause, as it's keeping colder air north.
"It's a combination of factors," said Tad Murty. "To predict what might happen we have to study all these factors and consider their interactions."
High temperatures of 24-26 C are forecasted for Tuesday through Thursday before a few days of rain.
With a report from CTV Ottawa's Catherine Lathem
