There may be record-breaking temperatures at lake level this week, but there’s still a whole lot of snow on area mountains.
Apex Mountain Resort near Penticton reported temperatures up on the hill were sitting at about 20 C Tuesday and yet they still had seven feet of snow is some areas.
A contrasting site to see for sure, but also foreboding for the flooding situation in the Southern Interior.
All that snow still has to melt.
New temperature records for #BC set on May 13. https://t.co/cjuV6TPx78. Send your weather reports at #BCstorm.
— ECCC Weather BC (@ECCCWeatherBC) May 14, 2018
Related: Okanagan-Shuswap flood watch to intensify over next week
Dave Campbell, head of the B.C. River Forecast Centre, says the snow melt has been accelerated by temperatures trending six to eight degrees above average, mixed with the potential for the heat to be briefly interrupted by rain later this week.
“The weather will be critical over the few weeks,” Campbell explained. “There is a strong high pressure surge right now will a small potential disturbance that will generate rain leading into the long weekend, but that high pressure system is expected to rebuild and be more prolonged leading into next week.”
Related: Crews install flood protection on Okanagan Lake
According to the Central Okanagan Emergency Operations Centre, higher than normal snowpack levels, warm temperatures and predicted rainfall are all variable factors that can combine to elevate the risk of flooding from creeks, streams and Okanagan Lake.
In the past week Okanagan Lake rose 48.5 centimetres to 342.31 metres. This is 17 cm below full pool.
However with a 30 per cent chance of precipitation predicted for Wednesday night, it is likely that by Friday the lake will reach full pool at 342.48 metres and exceed this level by the weekend.
Related: May long affecting Okanagan-Similkameen flood preparations
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