Sun Peaks, Jan 3/24 (image credit - CFJC Today)

By Michael Reeve

EL NINO WINTER

While Sun Peaks hits its stride, valley bottoms face persistent drought concerns

Jan 3, 2024 | 5:30 PM

KAMLOOPS — This past year was the driest and warmest year on record for Kamloops. According to Environment Canada’s preliminary annual climate statistics for January to December 2023, Kamloops set records dating back to 1979 for the driest year on record, and the temperature was more than 1.5 degrees warmer than average, dating back to the 1800’s.

British Columbia’s ‘el nino’ winter so far has been more a story of Jekyll and Hyde for the Thompson region. After a slow start to the winter season, Sun Peaks, just north of the community is thriving.

“For us it’s just changing the narrative, yes the coast is having some challenges with a lack of snow, but for us in the Thompson Okanagan region it’s been really really good. It’s not as good as last year but we still have the snow,” said Aaron Macdonald, Director of Marketing for Sun Peaks Resort. “I’ve been up the chair with visitors from Australia, New Zealand, United States, Vancouver and it’s happy faces, smiling faces, everybody is super stoked to be skiing right now.”

While winter has beautifully set in throughout the mountains, the valley bottoms are still dealing with persistent drought concerns.

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“The dryness is the big story, we saw just over half of our normal precipitation, and the Kamloops area is a very dry arid area to begin with. So getting 148ml over the whole year is pretty outstandingly low and that is really going to cause us some problems moving forward,” outlined Environment Canada Meteorologist Brian Proctor.

There is still time for the area to build up a much needed snowpack, and fill low river beds with water, to help alleviate growing drought concerns, which can translate into wildfire concerns next summer.

“We still have a chance to get more snow, we need more snow,” stated Proctor. “And from what some of the preliminary statistics the province is seeing they are talking about snowpacks running below where they should be for this time of year but there has been subtle improvements as we move from December into January.”

With nearly a metre of snow base, Sun Peaks is fully open on both the alpine and nordic sides of the mountain, with more snow potentially on the horizon.

“I’m watching the weather every single day and I keep saying oh it’s coming and then it goes away, then it’s coming, then it goes away,” joked Macdonald. “But no, it looks like a big front, an artic outflow coming this weekend and hopefully it brings 10-15 cm. I’m not a weather forecaster but hoping for the best here for sure.”

Due to struggles closer to the coast and even despite the later start, Sun Peaks has been able to attract skiers and boarders from across the globe to the resort this winter, keeping them extremely busy.