Province urges municipalities to be prepared in light of elevated snowpack

Mar 9, 2018 | 1:16 PM

KAMLOOPS — The province is reminding rural municipalities to prepare for potential flooding due to the large snowpack looming in the back country.

Dave Campbell of the BC River Forecast Centre says the province has about 20 per cent more snow than it would normally expect for the beginning of March.

Campbell says because we just came out of a La Nina winter, BC could see significantly more snow fall on the mountains before the season is done.

“We’re definitely growing the snowpack at a faster rate than is normal. Most regions gained about 10 per cent over their February values. That really starts to nudge us, particularly as a concern being the Southern Interior region of the province, extending from the Similkameen, Nicola to the Okanagan and Boundary country,” said Campbell.

The Similkameen has the highest relative snowpack in the province at 144 per cent of normal, with the Okanagan close behind at 141 per cent.

“We’re just coming out of a La Nina winter, and we typically do see high snowpacks in La Nina years,” said Campbell. “We look at historic years, the common pattern is that snow keeps on growing at a faster rate. Given that situation, it’s more likely that trend of higher accumulation is going to continue. I think that’s a bit of a concern as well.”

Campbell adds the March and April weather will be the biggest determining factor whether the snow will come down gradually or in one fell swoop.

“The snow is one piece, but the weather as we get into the melt season is really critical. And that’s the thing that really drove flooding last year. You look at places like the Okanagan, just the amount of snow we have right now is pretty similar to what we peaked at last for accumulation. And that was in late April before we hit those levels.”

The Thompson and Nicola valleys experienced localized flooding in several areas last spring.

Campbell says local government should take the lessons they learned last year and be prepared to apply them.

“Given what we saw last year, I think it’s good planning to almost always be prepared for these types of things. The hazard is there in the springtime. But certainly with these elevated values, vigilance around planning and preparation is certainly important this year,” said Campbell.