Okanagan snowpack hits 206% of normal

May 1 reading highest in 38-year history of recordkeeping by B.C. River Forecast Centre

Flooding risks continue to escalate as the snowpack in the Okanagan reaches a historic high, surpassing 200 per cent of normal.

On May 1, the snowpack was at 206 per cent of normal, the highest since B.C.’s River Forecast Centre began recording the snowpack in 1980, up from 152 per cent of normal on April 1.

The provincial average snowpack on May 1 was 168 per cent of normal.

Last May, the snowpack in the Okanagan was at 147 per cent of normal.

Cool and wet weather during the first few weeks of April led to ongoing snow accumulation, followed by a rapid warming later in the month, the River Forecast Centre stated in its latest report.

This led to a significant early melt of low- to mid-elevation snow.

The inflow forecast for Okanagan Lake for May to July is 207 per cent of normal.

The expectation is for Okanagan Lake to exceed full pool by 12 to 20 centimetres, said Shaun Reimer, head of public safety and protection in the Thompson Okanagan.

Last year, the lake exceeded full pool by 76 cm.

As of Monday, Okanagan Lake was 62 cm below the level the same day last year.

“We’re weeks away before we potentially get into real problems,” said Reimer. “Although I’m more concerned with the state of Okanagan Lake than I was a few weeks ago, I still don’t think we’re going to get the same problems we did last year.”

How high the lake gets depends on how quickly water flows into the lake, he said.

“The longer it takes for the water to come into the lake, the more opportunity we have to send water downstream to make more storage.”

Reimer has reduced flows out of the Penticton dam from about 60 cubic metres of water per second in April to 35 cubic metres of water per second.

“With the expected rain and sort of hot temperatures in the short term, we’re just dropping those flows to get through this period,” said Reimer.

The flow out of the dam has also been decreased to counteract flooding in the South Okanagan.

“Between the Okanagan dam in Penticton and Osoyoos Lake, there’s lots of tributaries that enter into the Okanagan River,” said Reimer, adding many of the tributaries are running high and are causing flooding.

Once the tributaries in the Oliver area recede, Reimer will resume discharging more water out of the Penticton dam.