File Photo (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By James Peters

Spring Weather

Rainfall amounts over May long weekend failed to rise above trace levels: Environment Canada

May 21, 2024 | 3:59 PM

KAMLOOPS — The rainy, cool May long weekend didn’t do much to ease drought worries in the B.C. Interior, according to Environment Canada.

Meteorologist Chris Doyle says available data shows only trace accumulations of precipitation in the Kamloops area over the past few days.

“At the university, they only got a few tenths of a millimetre, so that’s not too promising,” Doyle told CFJC Today. “You probably had to get up a little bit higher into the mountains to see any appreciable rain — and even then, it would only be a millimetre or two unless, you were directly underneath a shower for 10 minutes.”

The unsettled weather continued Tuesday (May 21), but Doyle says accumulations are still underwhelming.

“At the airport, they’ve only recorded one-tenth of a millimetre of precipitation so far [Tuesday], in spite of reporting showers since 8:00 [in the] morning. If you’re up on the highway, say from Merritt to Kamloops, and you’re getting up above 1,000 metres, then you’re going to see a little more shower activity.”

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The cool weather means that rain became snow in the higher mountain passes, such as the Coquihalla Highway between Merritt and Hope. Environment Canada has left a special weather statement in place warning of snow at high elevations.

Doyle notes there is a bright side for those hoping for more moisture in the coming days.

“Overnight, there is this core of a cold system aloft moving down further into southern British Columbia,” he said. “Models are generating, even down to the valley floor, a couple millimetres of rain with a showery sort of nature overnight.”