Water-stressed Okanagan landscapes welcomed what seemed like a soggier-than-usual June — but it wasn’t quite enough to dampen all the drought- and fire-related concerns.
Peter Quinlan, meteorologist for Global Okanagan, said Kelowna had 75 per cent of its average precipitation this June.
It was also 0.4 C warmer than normal throughout the month than it has typically been.
Quinlan said there were 34.5 millimetres of rain recorded against the seasonal average of 45.9 millimetres.
That said, it may have seemed a bit damper because, June’s rainfall last year, in particular, was even less impressive, though the up-and-down swings started with a historic weather event.
“It all began in 2021 when we saw that heat dome that built in,” Quinlan said.
That year, June saw only 13.5 mm of precipitation. The following year, in 2022, it was wetter than normal, with 68.3 mm of rain falling.
In 2023, it was the driest June of all, with only 5.1 mm falling.
How long this last blast of precipitation will help keep fires at bay and water reservoirs filled remains to be seen.
As the days grow hotter, more water evaporates from reservoirs as demand for water increases.
The starting point, nonetheless, is notably better than years past, Dave Campbell with the BC River Forecast Centre said.
“On the seasonal weather side, (the rain has) been quite favourable,” Campbell said. “We’ve had closer to normal precipitation through most of the region, and a lot of that snow that we did have at higher elevations melted off a little slower, so we hung on to some of the water that was stored up in there.”
That’s made for improving regional drought levels.
“We’re currently at a level one drought through the Okanagan at this point, which is certainly much better shape than last year where we started the year at about level two and then we really got up to that level five as we went through the summer period,” he said.
Campbell said that the change in drought conditions first became evident a few weeks ago, and they improved then. However, there will be lingering impacts from both last year’s long-term precipitation deficit and this year’s snowpack shortfall.
“We are heading into a big blast of heat that is going to gradually build in through the week,” Quinlan said.
Then, the expectation is hot and dry days right until the middle of July, with temperatures warming up to the upper 20s to low 30s C.
“By the end of this week, getting into the mid-30s C over the weekend, and next week, we will be in the mid to upper 30s C, right through the week,” Quinlan said.