Sunny skies sticking around
A high pressure ridge that's giving us beautiful fall weather could play a lowdown dirty trick by Wednesday night.
Temperatures that are well above the normal of 12 C for mid-October are currently forecast to extend through to the start of next week in Kelowna.
However, the undermining factor is the potential of a massive high pressure ridge to create an early-season inversion.
That’s the meteorological phenomenon which sees fog and low-lying cloud trapped in the Valley under the downward pressure of the ridge, at a time of the year when the angle of the sun is too low to burn off the grey lid.
“It’s a strong ridge of high pressure that's responsible for the nice warm weather we’re seeing, and will be seeing for some time,” Environment Canada meteorologist Chris Emond said Sunday. “The persistence of the ridge is unusual.”
Clear skies and daytime highs in the upper teens are predicted through the week. While pleasant for mid-October, the temperatures of 16 C to 18 C are still a few degrees below record-setting.
“Ironically, the longer that this high pressure ridge persists, the more likely the Valley cloud will become with this very strong inversion,” Emond said.
“Perhaps by Wednesday we’ll be looking at at Valley cloud forming overnight and into the mornings, and depending how long it lasts that will tend to start capping the maximum temperatures,” Emond said.