Kelowna just had one of its coldest Novembers on record

Last month was the fourth coldest November in Kelowna on record, and those stats date back to 1899.

It was, on average, more than four degrees colder than a typical November with the thermometer showing a mean temperature of -1.8 C compared to a typical 2.6 C.

And while the amounts of precipitation were average, the much colder temperatures mean that fell as snow.

Some parts of Central Okanagan saw over three times the usual amount of snow last month, especially at higher elevations.

At one measuring station in West Kelowna, for example, 56 cm was noted, compared to the normal 15 cm.

Alyssa Charbonneau, a meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, said two Arctic outbreaks caused the plummeting temperatures.

“Cold Arctic air made its way south through the interior of B.C.: we had a very early one at the beginning of November, and now we find ourselves in a similar situation from the end of the month,” she told Kelowna10.

Charbonneau said it will remain colder than normal for the coming weeks, with lows into the mid-minus teens, feeling even worse with the wind chills.

As for the rest of winter, she said it’s not clear what direction things will go.

“Our seasonal forecast for December, January, February isn’t really giving us a strong signal one way or the other…so we’ll have to wait and see if we return to more seasonal norms," she said.

In November 2021, there were 21 days where the maximum temperature breached 5 C, and only one day where the daytime high fell below freezing.

However, this year there were only four days where the daytime high was above 5 C, and 11 days on which the maximum failed to get above zero.

Looking at some of the extremes, in November 2021, there were ten days when the maximum rose to over 10 C. But last month that didn’t happen at all and since the balmy 8.8 C on Nov. 1, it’s been getting colder ever since.

Of course, the snow isn’t all bad news.

Big White is having a gorgeous start to their ski season. It recorded 60 cm of new snow in the last week alone, for an alpine base of 110 cm, and a total cumulation for the winter so far of 201 cm.