Outlook brightens for holiday weekend

Meteorologists have done their civic duty and revised their forecast for the August long weekend.

More sun, less cloud. Higher temperatures, lower chance of rain.

“The weather forecast has changed from what we were looking at just a day ago,” Environment Canada meteorologist Lisa Ervin said Wednesday.

A cool, showery front from Alaska is now forecast to stay farther off the B.C. coast than was originally anticipated. Instead, a high pressure ridge will rebuild after what’s still expected to be a drizzly Friday.

So, instead of a wet weekend, hopes are for mostly sunny skies with temperatures ranging between 25 and 27 C.

That’s about seven degrees below recent maximums, but might come as welcome relief for those tired of staying most of the day in air-conditioned premises, or always beetling for shade on sandy beaches.

The past month ended up as the sixth warmest July on record in Kelowna, with the average of daytime highs and nighttime lows a balmy 22.4 C. That compares to the long-term average for the month of 19.5 C.

Last July was the warmest and the driest on record in Kelowna, with an average temperature of 23.3 C and zero rainfall.

Rainfall was also well below normal this past July, at just 9.4 millimetres. Normal for July is 37.2 mm.