Snow disappears and temperature rises in February
By Nelson Daily Staff
Thanks to a strong upper ridge near the BC coast that diverted the Pacific storm track to the far north of the area most days, February — for the most part — was a great month weather wise said Jesse Ellis Fire Weather Forecaster for the Southeast Fire Centre in Castlegar.
“The exception being the stretch from February 4th to 9th, when a moist south-westerly flow tapped into a feed of subtropical moisture originating off the coast of Oregon/Northern California to deliver over 90 percent of the month’s total precipitation — falling mostly as rain,” Ellis explained in his monthly weather bulletin.
“Daily precipitation records were set during the most active days of the month — February 5th and 6th (with 21.4mm and 18.3mm respectively),” Ellis added.
Ellis said the result, combined with mild temperatures and roughly half of the normal amount of snowfall, allowed Castlegar (and area) to remain snow-free in terms of snowpack on the ground since February 8th.
For example Castlegar maintains at least 10 centimeters of snow on the ground to the end of February.
Ellis said a true Arctic outbreak never traveled into the region, and with the prevailing upper flow out of the west or northwest most days the mean temperature was more than three degrees above average.
“Record daily max temperature and record daily max mean temperature were each broken a total of seven times but the highest temperature of the month (12.2 degrees on February 20th) fell a little over two degrees short of the monthly record set in 2010,” he said.
Ellis said with spring approaching, long-range models call for a change in the clear, sunny weather for the region.
“An upper trough deepening offshore next Tuesday/Wednesday could push inland next Thursday/Friday for a transition to cloudier and wetter conditions locally,” he said.
“A return to near or slightly above average temperatures and near or slightly below average precipitation is currently favoured for the remainder of March.”
