By Cam Fortems
Kamloops This Week
While there were wild swings between warm and cold weather in February, the month came out chillier and snowier than normal.
Environment Canada reported a total of 27 millimetres of precipitation fell as snow in February. That compares to 12 millimetres for a monthly average.
“It was way snowier, wetter than average and colder, too,” said meteorologist Doug Lundquist.
While the month saw dramatic swings between warm and cold weather, the average temperature was -3.3 C. That’s lower than the typical monthly average of 0 C.
December was also colder and snowier than average.
Lundquist said forecasters cannot peg this year’s weather to any particular climate phenomenon, such as El Nino.
Instead, he suspects it may be due to record-low ice this winter in the Bering Sea around Alaska. That resulted in open water for much of winter and a cold flow of air southward.
