The BC River Forecast Centre expects the 20 degree temperatures this week to kick off the spring melt for the southern interior of BC.
“Typically in the middle of April is when we switch into snow melt and we have seen that melt has been delayed a little bit, about a week or so,” said David Campbell, head of the River Forecast Centre. “This will be the first prolonged warm spell we’ve seen in the province for this season and (The Forecast Centre is) certainly anticipating seeing snow melt in response to this.”
The Centre isn’t expecting this burst of heat to affect upper elevations as much as the mid-level elevations, below 1500m. “That certainly has the potential to cause high-flow conditions and problematic conditions, particularly in smaller tributary (waterways), particularly in the southern interior,” according to Campbell.
Shaun Reimer is the section head of Public Safety and Protection for the Thompson Okanagan region, and is the person who oversees the water level for Okanagan Lake, which is close to 106 cm below full pool right now. “That means we certainly have a decent amount of water that we can absorb into that system,” explained Reimer. “Based on the April-July forecast of the amount a water expected to come in. It should be manageable.”
Of course Reimer knows Mother Nature gets the final say. “If we get into potentially some wet weather, and of course, if the water comes in very very quickly, much like it did last year, that can become very problematic.” “We are actually 61cm lower on Okanagan Lake than we were for the same date in 2017.”
Reimer anticipates Lake Okanagan is at its lowest point of the season right now, and the water level will start to rise shortly after this week’s warm stretch, and the resulting snow melt.