More winter on the way for the Okanagan

OKANAGAN – Winter has decided to ignore the fact that it’s nearly mid-March and hang around for another few days, as the Okanagan braces for another round of snow starting tonight.

Environment Canada meteorologist Bobby Sekhon says the Okanagan can expect between two to five centimetres of snow tonight, March 11, and another two cm tomorrow before it tapers off in the afternoon.

Sekhon says a snowfall warning is in effect for parts of Vancouver and the Fraser Valley, where high elevations could receive as much as 15 cm tonight.

Kelowna and the surrounding region should see a 40 per cent chance of flurries this morning, changing to rain showers by noon, with a high of 4 Celsius.

The valley will see a 40 per cent chance of rain or snow flurries this evening, turning to snow around midnight and accumulations of up to five cm by morning with a low of 0 C.

Another two cm of snow is expected tomorrow morning before the precipitation becomes mixed with rain, ending in the afternoon.

Lesser amounts of snow are expected towards the south end of the valley.

Skies will be mostly cloudy under a high of 4 C and a low of -7 C overnight.

Wednesday should see mostly sunny skies and a high of 7 C.

Cloudy skies will dominateThursday with a high of 5 C and a low of – 2 C.

Sunny skies return Friday along with a high of 7 C.

Sekhon says the cold air the valley has been experiencing for so long has proven hard to move out, but weekend temperatures are expected to return to normal and above normal values.

The weekend forecast promises highs of 11 C and 12 C on Saturday and Sunday respectively, under sunny skies, with overnight lows of -1 C.

That’s actually higher than the normal temperature for the Okanagan at this time of year, which is 8 C for a high and -2 C for the low.

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