Will the Okanagan’s balmy winter last?

Still waiting for winter to hit

We are midway through January, and winter has barely made its presence known in the Okanagan Valley.

An atmospheric river lashing the South Coast and Vancouver Island is bringing unseasonably warm weather to the region this week. Temperatures could even rise above zero at high elevations.

“It’s going to be warm enough to cause some melt,” said Environment Canada meteorologist Bobby Sekhon. “The freezing levels are going to be fairly high, actually. So, you’re going to see that warmth climb into the mountains as well. I can’t say how much melt, but definitely, there will be some.”

This latest warm spell falls on the same week that saw an extreme cold snap devastate soft fruit crops in the Okanagan two years ago. Farmers, like Jennay Oliver at Paynter’s Fruit Market in West Kelowna, are anxiously watching the forecast.

“It’s kind of unnerving to know that if we have a week of 10 C, then things might start moving,” said Oliver, as she surveyed young peach trees replanted last year to replace those lost in 2024.

So far, it has been cold enough that buds have not started to break.

“If you look around, you see a lot of green grass everywhere, which is something that I would normally kind of see in March. We’re still waiting on that winter to hit,” she added.

People on the street are also wondering what Mother Nature has in store for us.

“This is unbelievable,” said Keith, who was relaxing after trying out the water-logged ice at Stuart Park in Kelowna. “People who depend on frozen ice or whatever, good luck,” he said. “But, you know what I’m thinking? February, watch out.”

There is still plenty of time for winter to dish up a blast of cold, but there’s nothing major on the horizon.

“We’re not really expecting any significant cool-down until probably the middle of next week, when we’ll see a pattern change happening, probably bringing in some cooler air. Maybe a little bit more closer to normal for this time of year,” said Sekhon.

The normal highs for mid-January in the Okanagan are -2 C, with lows near -8 C. Tuesday’s highs are expected to reach 10 C in Kelowna and Vernon and 11 C in the South Okanagan. Lows are forecast to hover near 3 C.

Oliver is crossing her fingers that her orchard will have a second good growing season in a row after a banner 2025. It’s something that has been rare over the past several years in the Okanagan.

“As farmers, we always worry,” she said. “Because in March/April is when the blossoms come out, and you can always have a late frost.”