Mild winter weather to continue
The first week of February will be grey but mild, continuing an Okanagan winter that so far has been more rumour than reality.
Daytime highs will reach about 3 C with lows around –4 C. Both the maximum and minimum temperatures are about three degrees above normal for early February.
Last month started off on a torrid pace, meteorologically speaking. Through the first 17 days of 2021, the mean temperature in Kelowna was 1.6 C, not far off the record warm January of 2006, when the mean temperature was 1.7 C.
But a spate of cooler days in the last 10 days of January reduced the month-end mean temperature in Kelowna to 0.1 C., Environment Canada said.
The warmest day last month was the 13th, at 9.4 C. The coldest was the 23rd, with an overnight low of –10.6 C.
Total precipitation was 13 millimetres; a normal January in Kelowna sees 20 centimetres of snow. There were 16 days last month when there was no measurable snow on the ground in Kelowna.
While this week should be relatively mild, with some hours of sun possible on Wednesday and Friday, next week will be cooler with highs of only around –2 C and lows around –8 C, according to The Weather Network.
But by early February, the chance of protracted bitter cold spell in the Okanagan becomes increasingly unlikely.
The average high through February is 4 C, rising to 10 C in March, and 16 C in April.
Hours of daylight in February increase from nine hours and 23 minutes today to 10 hours and 57 minutes on Feb. 28.