Drought conditions near Kalamalka Lake Provincial Park (ID D 59301229 © Katyenka | Dreamstime.com)

By Liam Verster

Drought Condition Prediction

Above average precipitation needed to offset Okanagan drought conditions

May 13, 2025 | 4:19 PM

The Okanagan is at risk of experiencing another drought in 2025, and needs more than normal rainfall to offset those risks.

Dave Campbell, Head of the B.C. River Forecast Centre, spoke with Vernon Matters Tuesday, May 13, during which he said May and June are typically wetter months for the Okanagan. Despite that trend however, and the recent rainfall and more precipitation in the short-term forecast, the region was still quite dry.

“I think as we reach out and think of broader outlook for this year, [the big] thing that is jumping out as a concern is the snowpack,” Campbell explained, adding the early melt was also a concern.

“We have a lower snowpack here. In April, the snowpack in the Okanagan was 82 per cent of normal, and that dropped to 67 per cent of normal for May 1st. What a lot of that change reflected was an early melt, particularly in the low to mid elevation snowpacks.

“So the two factors, early melt and low snowpack, are factors that are of concern this year as we come into the low-flow season. Really, the water that we had is coming off early, and if we don’t have storage for it in lakes or reservoirs, we are going to be a little more challenged to not have that streamflow coming from the snowmelt as we start to get from the spring into the summer.”

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With those risk factors in mind, Campbell said more than normal rain would be needed to reduce drought concerns in the summer.

“We typically get something like 50 to 75 millimetres [of precipitation in May and June] in the Okanagan, that would be normal,” the River Forecast Centre Head told Vernon Matters.

“We would prefer to see amounts that are higher than that [this year], maybe getting in the 50 to 100 millimetres of rain in that period would help. That said, I think the more critical period is going to be rainfall we see in July and August, once were out of the wet season.”

Though his agency does not handle water restrictions, Campbell did recommend people consider conserving water earlier than usual this year, and to explore strategies that are more long-term, such as looking at how people use water at home for bathing, washing dishes and laundry, and watering lawns and gardens.

The B.C. River Forecast Centre will be releasing drought ratings for the Okanagan and other regions within the province in the coming weeks.