October — Wettest month since 1960s
By Nelson Daily Staff
For those of us who thought October had to have been the wettest month since the beginning of time, try again.
According to Ron Lakeman, Weather Forecaster for the Southeast Fire Centre in Castlegar October 2016 was by far the “wettest October since local records began in the mid 1960s.”
“The 207.6 millimetres of rain (no snow) is more than four times the normal amount of precipitation which falls during October,” Lakeman said in his monthly weather synopsis.
“The previous greatest amount of precipitation during October was 129.8 mm in 1967.”
“The 207.6 mm is the second greatest amount of rain recorded during any month at the Castlegar Airport,” Lakeman adds. “Only June 2012 was wetter.”
Lakeman said there were 22 days in which measurable precipitation was recorded, which is also a new record maximum for October.
The cause, he said, was near endless series of Pacific systems tracking across southern B.C.
“The most significant system of sub-tropical origin dumped 42.2 millimetres of rain during the night of October 13th,” Lakeman explains.
“The 24 hour total rainfall of 51.8 mm on October 13th is the greatest one day rainfall during October, it’s also the amount which is more typically the monthly total precipitation for October.”
Lakeman said the first below freezing temperature of the season — -1.1 degrees — occurred during the early morning hours of October 11th, the day after Thanksgiving.
He said partial clearing also allowed the temperature to drop below zero the following night.
“Otherwise the predominant southwesterly flow and prevalent cloud cover resulted in milder than normal nighttime temperatures and a slightly milder than normal mean monthly temperature,” he said.
Unfortunately, the forecast by Environment Canada doesn’t appear to be changing much to start November.
However, all this precipitation is bonus for the ski hills.
Whitewater Ski Resort near Nelson reports 28 cms in the past 48 hours for an early season base of 78 cms.
Red Mountain near Rossland also reports an Alpine base of 50 cms and 20 cms in the past 48 hours.
However, the snow is also accumulating on the upper level highways.
So Know Before You Go by going to DriveBC to check out up to the minute road conditions.
