Okanagan snowpack still lower than normal

Wetter February brings more snow, but not enough

The snowpack in the Okanagan is up slightly this month, but a mostly dry, cold winter has kept levels lower than normal.

The Okanagan’s average snowpack level on March 1 was 86 per cent of normal, compared to the provincial average of 85 per cent, the River Forecast Centre recorded in its monthly snowpack report released Tuesday.

At the beginning of February, the Okanagan snowpack was 79 per cent of normal.

“The key drivers are colder-than-normal weather combined with a drier-than-normal seasonal weather,” said Dave Campbell, head of the River Forecast Centre.

The average snowpack across the province on March 1 was approximately a one-in-15-year low, he said.

“For the most part, it’s been driven by lower amounts of precipitation earlier in the winter, in December and January,” said Campbell. “Last month, we saw a little wetter weather, and that brought numbers up from where we were at a month ago.”

Snowpack levels indicate the potential flooding risk and streamflow levels in the coming months.

“From a flood perspective, there’s not a huge amount of snow,” said Campbell. “We are expecting normal seasonal flood risk, and, given the amount we have, we’d need to see some significant rainfall events during the melting season to see any flooding.”

Lower-than-normal snowpack levels could also indicate heightened pressures on the water supply.

“Having a little-below-normal snowpack does give a little increased risk of seeing lower flows into the summer,” said Campbell.

This time last year, the snowpack in the Okanagan was 123 per cent of normal.

“Last year was a lot wetter; we had those fairly robust snowpacks, (but) it was also quite warm, so we didn’t have a well-developed mid-snowpack,” said Campbell.

This year, there is more mid-elevation snow, but snowpack levels are measured at higher elevations, where snowfall is below normal, he said.

By this time of year, 80 per cent of the annual B.C. snowpack has typically accumulated, said Campbell, adding there are six to eight weeks remaining in the snow accumulation season.

Today’s weather forecast in Kelowna calls for a high of 4 C and a low of -4 C with a 40 per cent chance of flurries, changing to a 40 per cent chance of rain or flurries in the afternoon, according to Environment Canada.

Thursday’s forecast is a high of 6 C and a low of 1 C with flurries or rain showers.