Flurries in the forecast

Photo: Jennifer Zielinski

It has been a mild fall, one of the warmest on record according to Environment Canada, but that is all about to change.

There is a possibility of flurries in the forecast for Remembrance Day in the Central Okanagan, with temperatures falling down to the negative digits overnight.

“There’s a 60 per cent chance of flurries (Tuesday), but… there probably won’t be enough to accumulate,” says Doug Lundquist with Environment Canada, who adds there is another chance of snow either Thursday or Friday.

But the bigger picture he says will be the sudden cooling of temperatures felt around the area this week.

“The big story is we’ve gone from record breaking October – the warmest October on record – and haven’t really had a hard frost in most of the Central Okanagan, yet. But tomorrow the high is supposed to be minus two. I’ll be surprised if it doesn’t go above zero near the lake.”

Lundquist also anticipates that residents in the Central Okanagan will awake to the first signs of frost, come Tuesday morning. And suggests wineries should start monitoring the temperatures, as the perfect time to harvest ice wines should soon be upon us.

As for the upcoming winter in general, he says this year may be warmer and points to El Nino as the reason for that.

“The waters of the Pacific are really warm still, so most of the time our storms are coming from the Pacific, that gives us a higher chance of having warmer that average temperature in the long run,” says Lundquist.

“The other thing is its potentially an El Nino winter, and when we do get El Nino, it tends to be a warmer than average winter as well. So we’re thinking there’s a fairly high probability that overall, the winter will be warmer than average.”

However, Lundquist cautions people to prepare for the immediate future, which will bring colder temperatures starting Nov. 11.