File Photo (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By James Peters

Dry spring

Kamloops just had the driest spring in 120 years: Environment Canada

Jun 2, 2021 | 3:18 PM

KAMLOOPS — Environment Canada says the spring of 2021 was the driest Kamloops has seen in 120 years.

Speaking to CFJC Today, forecaster Armel Castellan says Environment Canada considers spring to consist of March, April and May, rather than from the vernal equinox to the summer solstice.

Castellan says 5.8 millimetres of rain was measured in Kamloops last month.

“For March and April, when we add them to mix for meteorological spring, only 10.3 millimetres has fallen,” said Castellan. “Normally, for those three months you would see 54.2 millimetres, so that’s 19 per cent of normal.”

In records dating back to 1891, the only spring with lower precipitation took place in 1901, with only 5.8 millimetres falling during March, April and May.

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“It’s not just Kamloops (that was very dry);” noted Castellan, “it’s also Cranbrook, Vernon, Kelowna, Penticton, Abbotsford, Vancouver, all the way to Campbell River on [Vancouver] Island, Nanaimo and Victoria all in the top ten (driest springs ever) — in fact many, the driest on record.”

While a dry spring is seen as a potential harbinger of an active wildfire season in the B.C. Interior, Castellan says much depends on what happens this month.

“Yes, it adds to the flavour and it starts us off with a drought signal — there’s no doubt about that, and there are already impacts to society, to fish, to wildlife, to water permitting, to agriculture.” he said. “But it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s going to be a crazy intense fire year. The reason why is because it will depend mostly on June.”

While the beginning of the week has brought summer-like heat to Kamloops, the immediate forecast shows a change back to cool, wet conditions for the weekend and beyond.

“We do have kind of a three- or four-day stretch there, mostly on the Sunday and Monday when we could see a few millimetres accumulate. It’s going to be showery; it’s not going to be one big synoptic Pacific storm that’s just going to drench you,” said Castellan. “But it will be noticeable because the daytime highs are going to be in the teens — like 17, 18 degrees — which will be five, six degrees below normal at that point.”