A surfer cuts loose on the St. Lawrence River in Montreal. (CBC)Canadians took advantage of the Good Friday holiday to bask in temperatures that broke records across much of the eastern half of the country.

From Thunder Bay, Ont., to Charlottetown, P.E.I., temperatures ranged from the low to high 20s — "unprecedented, record-setting temperatures," said Environment Canada's senior climatologist Dave Phillips.

"We're seeing temperatures that are more like what you'd' expect on the long weekend in July — Canada Day as opposed to Easter weekend. It is clearly, only one way of describing this — spectacular."

In Montreal, the high reached 25 C, shattering last year's record of 16 C.

People were out enjoying the city's terraces and even surfing on the perpetual wave, located in the shadow of Habitat 67 on the St. Lawrence River.

'Maybe it's kind of just making up for bummers of a summer that we had last year and the year before.'— Dave Phillips, Environment Canada senior climatologist

"It's the second of April, it's 23 degrees outside, I don't have a shirt on, and the wave was awesome," said surfer Corran Addison. "How can you beat that?"

A related record was set at the Fairmont Algonquin Hotel in St. Andrews, N.B., where the golf course had its earliest opening in 116 years.

"It is fantastic for us," said Jason Porter, the hotel's golf director. "The exciting thing for the golfers is that it is not too often that a golfer in New Brunswick gets to play golf in their own province before the Masters is on TV."

Skiers at the Camp Fortune ski area in Chelsea, Que., were determined to enjoy the warmth and what was left of the snow.

Golfers enjoyed the earliest opening of the course at the Algonquin Hotel in St. Andrews, N.B., in 116 years. (CBC)

"It's awesome," one man said. "You would never think you'd get this kind of conditions with this kind of weather."

The Canadian hot spot Friday was Canadian Forces Base Borden, about 80 kilometres northwest of Toronto, where the temperature hit 28.8 C.

Warm temperatures are likely to continue this year, thanks to the effect of El Nino, Phillips said.

"Maybe it's kind of just making up for bummers of a summer that we had last year and the year before," he said.

El Nino is an abnormal system of currents in the Pacific Ocean off the west coast of South America that has an unusual effect on global weather.