File photo (Image credit: CFJC Today).

By Aaron Schulze

Weather

Kamloops experiences abnormally dry month of May; heat expected to persist into June

Jun 2, 2025 | 11:16 AM

KAMLOOPS — The month of May didn’t follow suit to its predecessors when it came to precipitation in Kamloops.

According to Environment Canada, nearly 11 millimetres of precipitation was recorded at Kamloops Airport in May 2025, just 40 per cent of the 27-to-28 millimetres the month usually experiences.

Lisa Erven, a meteorologist with Environment Canada, notes the abnormally dry May comes after slightly wetter conditions in March and April.

“Dry and hot to start and then cloudy, cool and showery throughout the middle of May, and then dry and hot to end,” Erven told CFJC Today. “With showery weather, it can mean that precipitation varies over very short distances, so our weather stations may or may not actually catch all of the precipitation that impacted the Kamloops region.”

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For temperatures, Erven says the Kamloops region was slightly above normal thanks to a bookend of heat to balance out a cooler middle. The average temperature recorded for Kamloops in May 2025 was 15.9 C, slightly warmer than 15.0 C.

“In early May, Kamloops was actually the first city to hit 30 C in B.C.,” Erven said. “As we got toward the end of the month, we saw those temperatures creeping back up into the upper 20s and low 30s once again.”

The warm trend is expected to carry over into the beginning of June. Erven said the Kamloops area is under a ridge of high pressure, meaning dry and warm conditions will persist. Daytime high temperatures in Kamloops are forecast to reach the low 30s again by the weekend.

Beyond that, Erven says the weather models are beginning to differ. While one month’s worth of precipitation won’t reverse the Kamloops region’s fortunes when it comes to prolonged drought, she says the month of June, one of the wetter months in the region, is crucial for preparing the Interior for drought conditions and wildfire in the summer.

“However, we don’t want too much precipitation too fast in too short a time,” Erven said. “The best scenario would be a mix of weather where we’ve got some heavier rain days and then some days in between to let the landscape reset, and then ongoing showery weather throughout June.”

In its Snow Survey and Water Supply Bulletin for May 15, the BC River Forecast Centre said there are concerns for drought this season throughout the province due to long-term precipitation deficits, low snowpack and seasonal weather forecasts.