A weather system moving in from the Pacific ocean will follow the Canada, U.S. border bringing 5-10 centimetres of snow to Salmon Arm before moving south into Montana. (Contributed)

A weather system moving in from the Pacific ocean will follow the Canada, U.S. border bringing 5-10 centimetres of snow to Salmon Arm before moving south into Montana. (Contributed)

Okanagan Shuswap to weather two snow storms this week

Systems are forecasted to bring 5-10 cm of snow each

  • Feb. 5, 2020 12:00 a.m.

The Okanagan and Shuswap are not out of the snowy woods yet with meteorologists forecasting two snow events to descend on B.C.’s Interior this week.

Bobby Sekhon, a meteorologist with Environment Canada, reports a system that moved through the Southern Interior Tuesday is the precursor to another system expected for Wednesday.

The Wednesday system Sekhon said will bring 2-4 centimetres of snow in Kamloops and 5-10 cm around Salmon Arm, and will taper off in the evening. Some snow will fall on Thursday but Friday’s system is expected to bring another 5-10 cm.

Read more: Heavy snow expected for Highway 1 east of Salmon Arm

Read more: In photos and video: Snow collapses cat shelter at Shuswap SPCA

“Friday afternoon and evening, that’ll be kind of a low pressure system moving through so that’s going to be packing a little bit more of a punch,” Sekhon said.

The Friday system, originating from the Pacific Ocean, will follow the Canada and U.S. border going through the Southern Interior before moving south into Montana.

Although February has a much lower average monthly snowfall compared to January, Sekhon said only time will tell if the February winter weather will be an anomaly.

Read more: “Heart horse” killed after snow collapses shelter at Chase equine rescue

Read more: Environment Canada forecasts 10-15 cm of snow for Shuswap

“Certainly it’s not uncommon to get snow into February, but we’ll just see how much more of it we get later in the month,” Sekhon said. “On average, February is a lot drier month for the Salmon Arm area and, even in terms of snowfall, a lot less average monthly snowfall than January.”


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