Snowfall in Okanagan, Kamloops isn’t going to stick around

After one of the warmest winters on record for Kamloops and the Okanagan some snow finally fell over the weekend, but it isn’t likely to stick around.

Kelowna received roughly four to eight centimetres last night, March 15. Kamloops received 10 to 15 cm, Salmon Arm and Enderby got around 16 cm, but Penticton didn’t get much snow, according to Environment Canada.

“The unfortunate thing about it was a lot of it melted almost on contact, except over the grass area. So on the road areas, we were seeing lots of melting,” Environment Canada meteorologist Brian Proctor told iNFOnews.ca.

“Trying to get measurements is somewhat difficult.”

Temperatures are expected to hit a high of 9 Celsius in Kelowna and Vernon today, and up to 17 C by Wednesday. Overnight lows should stay around the 6 C to 10 C range for the rest of the week.

Kamloops is likely to be a bit warmer with today’s high at 12 C, and Wednesday is expected to hit a 19 C. Penticton is supposed to get to 11 C today and 17 C on Wednesday.

Proctor said the snow is likely going to be gone pretty quickly.

“We’re going to melt a lot of the snow that’s out there. We’re not going to see a tremendous amount of cooling off through the overnight period. Lots of clouds out there, lots of warmth out there, that’s probably the best way to look at it,” Proctor said.

The meteorological winter, which is from December to the end of February, was one of the warmest on record for the region.

In Vernon it was the warmest winter on record, and in Penticton it ranked sixth, in Kamloops and Kelowna it was the third warmest.

Prior to this big snowfall the Okanagan had 62 per cent of its normal snowpack, as of March 1, and the South Thompson had 83 per cent.

Ski hills welcomed a lot of snow over the past week with Big White Ski Resort getting 80 cm, SilverStar Mountain Resort getting 64 cm, Apex Mountain Resort receiving 33 cm and Sun Peaks Resort getting 34 cm.

Proctor said this snowfall is some good news, but it isn’t likely to get the region back to normal.

“We need a lot more,” he said.