It has been a dry year for Kamloops and the Okanagan but some rain has finally come to help ease off increasing drought conditions.

South Okanagan saw around 17 millimetres of rain last night, May 28, with Kelowna and Vernon getting around 10 mm, and Kamloops saw less with about 4 mm.

Environment Canada meteorologist Bobby Sekhon said it might not be enough to bring May close to its normal rainfall for the month.

“It’s still a little bit hard to say in terms of whether we’ll get to normal but we’ll take anything we can get at this point. Obviously in May and especially June rains are absolutely critical for the area,” he said.

The rain isn’t all good news though since several roads around the North Okanagan have significant water pooling.

Water is pooling on Westside Road between Shelter Cove and Highway 97 North for 42.7 km, Highway 6, Highway 97 A, HIghway 97 from Crystal Waters Road to Grandview Flats Road, and Highway 1 between Valleyview Dr and Bernie Rd for 126.8 km, according to DriveBC.

Some more rain is expected to continue to fall through the weekend in the Southern Interior with fluctuating weather patterns next week.

“This up and down weather is going to continue to start the work week. We might be seeing some drier and warmer conditions but later in the week there could be another system coming through that brings some more showers and cooler weather so it’s really a time to keep an eye on the forecast almost daily,” Sekhon said.

The Weather Network released its prediction for the summer outlining a dry, hot summer for B.C. and the federal government is expecting a serious wildfire risk in B.C. throughout the season.

The Sylx Okanagan Nation declared a watershed emergency last week because of low snowpack and a lack of rain.

As of May 15, the Okanagan was at 16 per cent of normal snowpack, South Thompson was at 49 per cent of normal snowpack, and the province as a whole was at 71 per cent of normal, according to the BC River Forecast Centre.

Sekhon said the best scenario would be frequent rainfall that isn’t too heavy so the ground can absorb it without causing other problems.

“We can hope for similar weather patterns coming up. Hopefully not too much precipitation all at one time,” he said.