Labour Day weekend sizzles
High-temperature record broken Saturday in Kelowna
Smoke from forest fires could lessen the chance of another hot-weather record being set today in Kelowna.
The forecast high of 33 C is slightly below the record for Sept. 5 of 34.5 C, set in 2003.
“But that forecast includes the slight cooling effect we expect to see from smoke that’s expected to build back into the Kelowna area on Tuesday,” Environment Canada meteorologist Allan Coldwells said Monday.
“If that smoke doesn’t develop as we expect, temperatures will be a bit higher and the record from 2003 could be broken,” Coldwells said.
The Labour Day long weekend was among the warmest ever seen in Kelowna. The temperature reached 36.2 C on Saturday, eclipsing the record for Sept. 2 of 34.8 C, set in 1998.
Temperatures on Sunday and Monday were only a couple degrees below records for those dates.
A strong high-pressure ridge is established over much of B.C., accounting for the “uncharacteristically” warm temperatures being experienced in B.C. to start September, Coldwells said.
“It’s a really intense ridge that’s come up from the northwest U.S.,” he said. “It’s unusual to get a ridge like this that’s lasting so long at the end of August and into September.”
Wednesday’s high is forecast to be 32 C, with 31 C on Thursday. Temperatures will begin to drop later Thursday, however, as a system from the Pacific moves inland. By Friday, there’s a 70 per cent chance of rain with highs of 26 C, which is still about four degrees warmer than usual for early September.