Record low temperatures in Okanagan, more snow on the way

Dec 22, 2022 | 1:00 PM

Environment Canada said record cold temperatures have been seen across the region Thursday.

Brian Proctor, a meteorologist with the weather agency, told Vernon Matters, Thursday morning saw the mercury drop to record lows in several Okanagan communities compared to the same day in past years.

“As of [Thursday] morning, -29 was recorded [in Kelowna] and the old record was -25.2 set in 1983,” said Proctor.

“We don’t have the information [for Vernon] available, but I have seen a record in Salmon Arm (-22.4) and Kamloops (-30.2). So the whole eastern portion of the Thompson, and getting up into northern portion of the Okanagan, was cold, very cold. Taking a look down to Penticton, it does look like Penticton set a record too of -22.3.”

He noted the records could be set again depending on how far the mercury falls Thursday evening.

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Environment Canada reports in its forecast for Vernon that the lowest temperature recorded on Dec. 22 between 1991 and 2007 was -11 in 1998. As of time of publication, the mercury had dropped as low as -23 in Vernon Thursday.

Though the record temperatures for the specific day were broken Thursday, the overall coldest temperatures were not broken.

The weather agency data shows the record low for Kelowna was -36.1 on Dec. 30, 1968. On that same day, a record low of -27.2 was recorded in Penticton. In Kamloops, the lowest temperature on record was -38.3 on Jan. 16, 1950.

Proctor did not state whether other daily record temperatures were set over the week during the cold snap.

Looking ahead, a new system is set to move into the region and push the arctic air mass out of the Okanagan Valley.

“It’s going to be messy, is probably the best way to word it,” Proctor told Vernon Matters.

“We’ve got a bit of a funnel system coming in towards the south coast, the first of a series of them, which is going to start producing more snow through the overnight period [Thursday] and continuing through the day [Friday] and into sort of Christmas Eve and maybe even another impulse on Christmas Day.”

Though more snow is on the way, the mercury is expected to climb with this funnel system, reaching daytime highs of -14 Friday, -6 Saturday, -4 on Christmas Day Sunday and around zero for the week leading into the new year.

“So it’s really warming things up, but to get rid of all this cold air, we have to bring in a system that’s got fairly significant amounts of energy associated with it to sort of move that cold air and shift it out of the Southern Interior, specifically northwards, and to do that, we’re going to produce significant amounts of snow.”

Proctor added the incoming system and snowfalls could create difficulties for travellers, especially on the highways, and advises people be cautious behind the wheel and drive to conditions; go slow and allow for extra travel time; keep an emergency kit in the vehicle; and give other vehicles lots of space.

by Liam Verster

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