Arctic airmass expected to cool things off this week in Kamloops

An Arctic airmass is poised to descend on Kamloops over the next couple of days before temperatures rebound in time for next weekend.

Bands of showers moving through the region today, March 30, are expected to fall as snow over higher elevations in the Kamloops area.

Those conditions have prompted Environment Canada to issue a snowfall warning for the Coquihalla Highway between Hope and Merritt, where five to 10 more centimetres of snow could fall today.

Environment Canada meteorologist Doug Lundquist says an Arctic front, currently between Quesnel and Williams Lake, is expected to move south to Kamloops by noon Tuesday, knocking temperatures down from today’s high of 11 Celsius to a high of 1 C Wednesday.

Temperatures should rebound fairly quickly, however, with daily highs back into the mid-teens by the weekend, Lundquist says.

“The Arctic air mass is going to be a one-day wonder, and should be followed by a warming-up for the rest of the week,” Lundquist says.

The cold front is going to have a more lengthy and chilling effect on Calgary, where daily highs are expected to be in the -7 C to -10 C range Tuesday through Thursday, with lows to -15 C on Tuesday and Wednesday night. Compare that to Calgary’s normal high and low for this time of year of 8 C and -5 C.

Today’s showers and 11 C high temperature should be followed by clouds and a high of 8 C Tuesday.

The Arctic front’s arrival should see Wednesday’s high in Kamloops only reaching 1 C, with an overnight low down to -9 C.

Sunny skies are expected to return Thursday, with a gradual warming trend taking place for the rest of the week.

Thursday’s high of 7 C will be followed by a mix of sun and cloud Friday through Sunday, with highs reaching 15 C over the weekend.

Normal temperatures at this time of year in Kamloops are highs of 14 C and lows of 1 C.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Steve Arstad or call 250-488-3065 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to tips@infonews.ca and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above.