Cool weekend weather, forecast for rain also comes with wind

Rain could fall in the Thompson and Okanagan regions as early as tomorrow, Aug. 6, but it’s not likely to provide enough benefit to counteract the winds that may gust into the area as well.

“We’re not expecting a lot of rain,” Environment Canada meteorologist Bobby Sekhon told iNFOnews.ca. “It will pretty much be a drop in a quite otherwise empty bucket.”

The forecast is for a 30 per cent chance of rain on Friday, growing to 60 per cent on Saturday and Sunday with temperatures in the low 20s in both regions.

But there may only be a couple of millimetres of rain in most locations.

“It’s going to be a bit of mixed bag for the firefighters,” Sekhon said. “On the one hand, you do have some relief with precipitation, especially along the slopes. But, on the other hand, we could see some windy conditions with gusts up to 40 or 50 kph in places.”

The amount of rain will vary from place to place, depending where the thunderstorms drop their water. The good news is, because the system is so widespread, there’s less chance of dry lightning that is more likely to spark new fires.

Any relief that does come will be short lived.

“By mid to late next week, we expect the heat to build in again over the Interior,” Sekhon said. “We might be flirting with more heat warnings if temperatures possibly climb into the mid-30s.”

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