'Severe drought' conditions declared in Kelowna, Vernon

Photo: Agriculture Canada

Drought conditions are continuing to deteriorate across the B.C. Southern Interior.

Agriculture Canada has declared ‘D2’ severe drought conditions in the Kelowna and Vernon areas while expanding ‘D1’ moderate drought conditions to a much larger part of the province.

The drought report said sufficient snowpack at upper elevations allowed stream flows to remain normal through the spring melt, but a record-breaking lack of rain over the past 90 days has caused things to degrade.

Kamloops recorded its second driest year on record since March, receiving only 18 percent of normal precipitation, said the Agriculture Canada report released Wednesday.

“Within the south central area, a small pocket of severe drought ‘D2’ formed around Vernon and Kelowna, both of which reported their driest year on record since March as well.”

Drought conditions also spread to the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island. Things are, however, much worse in southern Manitoba where D3 and D4, extreme and exceptional, drought conditions have set in.

The B.C. Wildfire Service is concerned about the lack of rain the region has received going into fire season.

"If the current weather trends continue, we can expect both the frequency and size of fires to increase as grass and other fine fuels start to ‘cure’ or dry out," the agency’s seasonal outlook said.

At this point, there is no rain in the Kelowna forecast until at least next week.

Photo: Agriculture Canada

Month-to-month comparison of deteriorating drought conditions in B.C. Southern Interior