Hot, dry summer both a blessing and a curse
EDITOR’S NOTE: The Daily Courier is counting down the year’s biggest stories in the Central Okanagan, as chosen by the editorial department.
After a spring of flooding, summer crept into Kelowna like a gunfighter with a score to settle. And then it stuck around for what seemed like forever.
For 44 straight days this past summer, Kelowna received no rainfall — the second longest dry spell ever.
July and August were the warmest on record.
“The heat we are getting now is different than a one-off day of 35 C or 36 C,” Environment Canada meteorologist Alyssa Charbonneau said on July 31.
“These days feel even hotter and drier because they have been accumulating for weeks,” Charbonneau said.
Temperatures were so high for so long this summer that WorkSafeBC issued a special advisory aimed at workers most likely to get heat stress. On the list: truck and bus drivers, lifeguards, sport and fitness leaders, and movie production assistants.
The persistent heat wave, caused by a high-pressure system that was more or less constantly parked over B.C., extended into September.
Although most Okanagan farms have irrigation, there was still a concern in agricultural circles about the extended drought.
“I think the biggest concern is that we need some rain and we need some temperatures in the mid-20s to stimulate some actual fruit growth,” BC Fruit Growers’ Association president Fred Steele said in mid-August.
The Labour Day long weekend was among the warmest ever experienced in Kelowna. The temperature reached 36.2 C on Sept. 2, eclipsing the old record for the day of 34.8 C set in 1988.
“It’s unusual to get a high-pressure ridge that’s so long at the end of August and into September,” Environment Canada meteorologist Allan Coldwells said.
This September proved to be the third warmest on record in Kelowna, with the average mean temperature of 17 C four degrees above normal. While summer sizzled, it was disappointing from a tourist perspective, as wildfires and a persistent smoky haze kept many visitors away from B.C.
Revenue losses were in the five to 20 per cent range for many tourism-dependent businesses, the Thompson-Okanagan Tourism Association reported.
“Tourism is the number one economic generator in the Thompson-Okanagan region, and this year has realized significant business loss due to wildfires, road and park closures, as well as issues with smoke and air quality,” TOTA president Glen Mandziuk said in mid-September.
The government pledged $200,000 to TOTA and a similar organization in the Kootenays to try to spark marketing and tourism efforts.