Okanagan was drier than normal in April while Kamloops was cooler

If you thought it was cooler than usual in Kamloops this month, or there was less rain than normally falls in the Okanagan in April, you were right.

As April comes to a close, Environment Canada meteorologist Bobby Sekhon says most of the Okanagan was slightly warmer than normal for the month, and Kamloops looks like it will finish the month with a daily minimum average temperature running 0.8 degrees cooler than normal at 2.4 Celsius, compared to the normal minimum average temperature of 3.2 C.

Kamloops's precipitation record for the month was within bounds of the normal range, Sekhon says, at 81 per cent, but it was quite a bit drier in the Okanagan.

“The Okanagan Valley was drier than normal this time around. Up to the 28th of April, it looks to be anywhere from 44 to 62 per cent of the normal precipitation we normally get in April from Penticton up to Vernon,” Sekhon says.

Penticton and Vernon were only 0.2 C degrees warmer than normal, while Kelowna was 0.9 C warmer than normal.

“We didn’t have any big storms in the southwest part of British Columbia in April. The coast and the Rockies saw some significant precipitation, but most of that missed the Okanagan,” Sekhon says.

Environment Canada is still expecting a weak El Niño through the rest of the spring season, with temperatures expected to average slightly warmer than normal.

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