If it feels like it’s been a wet and cold June this year, that’s because it has been.
Temperatures have been at least two degrees below the seasonal norm on almost every day in June, according to Environment Canada meteorologist Matt MacDonald.
“That is quite significant,” he said, adding even a persistent one degree than normal decline would qualify as a cold June.
The culprit has been what meteorologists call these upper-level low pressure systems that come down the coast and stagnate over southern B.C. creating long periods of unsettled and cool weather.
MacDonald says part of the reason for the unfavourable pressure systems is just the “luck of the draw,” but there’s also a factor called persistent circulation patterns.
“It moves in a wave, so the eastern half of the country is stuck in a ridge, and consequently on the western side of the country we’re stuck in this trough,” he said.
Despite the cold, however, rain has been seasonally average, even if it feels like there’s been more this year. Abbotsford Airport, which collects data used to predict weather patterns for the region that includes Mission, has seen 77.6 millimetres of rain between June 1 and 17, as compared to the seasonal average of 78.9 millimetres. That’s 98.4 per cent of normal.
Wednesday was a break from the rain and cold, as the first day of summer brought sunny highs of 25 degrees in the Fraser Valley.
Unfortunately, Friday and Saturday won’t look much like summer, as reports are calling for a return to rain and colder than average weather. But that doesn’t really surprise MacDonald.
“We have a saying here in the weather office, summer doesn’t typically arrive in southern B.C. before July.”
