Extremely low snow pack raises drought concerns

The snow pack levels seen across B.C.’s mountains and classified as 'extremely low' could significantly affect ongoing drought concerns into the summer.

That’s the upshot of the first snow pack bulletin of the year from the B.C. River Forecast Centre.

The January report, released Wednesday, shows the province averaging just 56 per cent of normal snow levels for this time of year. Last year, the provincial average was 82 per cent for Jan 1.

“It’s pretty surprising to see things at 56 per cent of normal,” Jonathan Boyd, a hydrologist with the centre told Kelowna10.

“This is the lowest we’ve seen for at least the last 45 years,” he said, noting the province as a whole is well below the 67 per cent of normal snow pack he remembers from 2001.

Snow is measured at automatic weather stations as well as manually by people heading into the mountains by helicopter, snowmobiles or even hiking, Boyd explained.

The snow measurements for the Okanagan specifically are 64 per cent of normal levels and 71 per cent below the number from Jan.1, 2023, although it was a cold and snowy start to last winter.

Other parts of the wider Columbia region have fared worse: the West and East Kootenay were at 57 and 62 per cent of normal and the Similkameen was at just 32 per cent. The Upper Columbia region saw 59 per cent of normal snow accumulation.

The Lower Thompson was 36 per cent of normal, some 164 per cent below levels of Jan.1 last year.

Fifteen snow measuring stations across the province saw all-time lows for Jan.1, including Nelson for example, which was just 25 per cent of normal.

The snow pack accumulations do not bode well for the rest of the winter. By early January, nearly half of the annual B.C. snow pack typically accumulates.

While snow has fallen in the Okanagan in recent days, the centre said there are early concerns for drought extending into the spring and summer.

The low snow pack could create challenges such as water supply issues, low groundwater levels, inadequate river levels for cultural needs, environmental flows, agricultural use, power generation, recreational use, wildfire risk, and more.

Much has been made of the broad Pacific El Niño weather pattern and very strong upper ridge of high pressure centred over the B.C. Interior that has influenced our winter so far. Last year was one of the warmest and driest on record.

However, Boyd said while we should be aware of the potential for drought, it’s too soon to judge exactly how things will pan out between now and summer.

“Weather is constantly bouncing back between high and low systems. All it takes with the snow pack is maybe five or six pretty strong storms to roll through and we could be back closer to normal,” he explained while highlighting the frigid Arctic air that’s arriving in the coming days will not produce snowfall.

The latest North American weather predictions call for the El Niño pattern to continue until at least April.

One positive that can be gleaned from the report: there are currently no concerns about spring freshet related flooding in the Interior.