Compared to last year, a year
known for three massive dumps of
snow that practically shutdown the
community, this year residents have
had for the most part a break from
backbreaking shovelling.
There hasn’t been a lot of heavy
snowfalls this winter but there has
been significant snowfall, an area
meteorologist said.
Although Keremeos doesn’t
have a dedicated weather station,
Lisa Coldwells, meteorologist,
from Environment Canada was able
to pull relative data that shows the
amount of snow that’s fallen in the
first half of January is more than
double the amount that on average
falls in the first month of the year.
Data collected at the Princeton
weather station shows that 97millimetres
of precipitation has fallen
between January 1 and Tuesday
morning. The average is 40-mm.
Because Keremeos tends to be
a bit warmer temperature wise than
Princeton precipitation levels are
expected to be slightly less but still
significant.
“Almost all the precipitation
has fallen as snow because we’ve
been experiencing below freezing
temperatures for almost all of the
month,” she said.
“It’s good because as it falls as
snow it’s going to stay there as it
melts. As we’re moving into spring
it’s going to be slow melting so it
continually recharges the soil and
that’s what we want.”
Temperatures over the last few
months for the most part have been
pretty average, but that is expected
to slightly change.As this is an El
Nino year the average temperature
between the middle of January and
middle of February is expected to
be a degree or two higher.
“It doesn’t mean every day is
going to be warmer. You might
have a little blast of Arctic air and
it’s colder or maybe some south
westerly winds and it’s warmer but
on average if we take the daily high
and low and average it, it’ll be a
few degrees warmer than when it’s
not an El Nino year,” she said.
An El Nino is caused by a river
of warm ocean water that runs
along the equator. As the season
progresses it switches weather patterns.
Although the El Nino won’t play
a roll in how much precipitation
there is for the rest of the winter, it
will determine how it falls.
“If overall temperatures are
slightly warmer... there will be rain
in the valley bottoms and rain heading
up the mountain. That’s a disadvantage
because snow melts slowly
and comes down the mountain as
it melts where rain just runs right
down,” she said.
So, the moral of the story – don’t
wait to get out there and enjoy the
snow or you’ll be making a mud
man instead of snowman.