Okanagan, Kamloops may be in store for an early season heat wave

It doesn’t feel like it today, but temperatures are expected to rise dramatically over the course of the week in Kamloops and the Okanagan.

A daily high of just 17 Celsius, seven degrees below the normal of 24 C, is expected in Kamloops and most of the Okanagan tomorrow, June 9.

Environment Canada meteorologist Jennifer Kowal said there should be some scattered showers with a possibility of thunderstorms in Kamloops and Penticton in the afternoon.

Kowal said temperatures should make it into the low 30s by the weekend and into next week. At this point in the year 32 C could trigger an early season heat event.

“It wouldn’t be as hot as a heat event that we’d get in the middle of the summer because we do have early season criteria that are three degrees lower,” she said.

With the Okanagan at drought level four, there was some hope that rain over the weekend would be significant enough to put a dent in a rather dry year so far. But Environment Canada only recorded a few millimetres of precipitation in the Thompson-Okanagan region.

There is a chance of some rain but Kowal said the early part of this week should be the end of a cool start to June for the region.

“Get ready for a shift in the pattern that some people are going to find welcome and other people may not welcome, depending on how much you like to be hot,” she said.