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By Sydney Chisholm

winter drought concerns

Warmer December, lack of snow compound drought concerns for Kamloops region

Dec 27, 2023 | 5:30 PM

KAMLOOPS – It’s been an unseasonably warm December in Kamloops. According to Environment Canada, despite some precipitation over the last few days and plenty of rain between the Interior and the coast, the region is looking much dryer than it has in previous years.

“In general terms, we’re not seeing a tremendous amount of moisture getting into the Interior. It’s really just a pop of flurries or showers that we’re seeing more than anything else at this point in time,” said Brian Proctor, meteorologist for Environment Canada.

“It really is active on the coast, a little bit less active over the Interior and fairly reasonable weather for people who are trying to get out and about at this point in time.”

While this mild weather may be good for those returning home from holiday, Proctor says rain won’t be too helpful for the region’s recovery from this season’s drought status.

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“Typically, rainfall events don’t do a lot for us this time of year. We really need that snowfall to start building up so we’re not going to get much of an improvement in the conditions at this point in time,” said Proctor.

“As we move further into January, we start looking at what looking more typical winter weather like that. We start seeing more of that snowfall having impacts moving forward. But we’re definitely still very much in a drought situation, a moisture deficit situation through much of the interior.”

Final numbers for December are yet to be released but Proctor expects the unseasonable warm temperatures to continue into the new year