September was a little bit warmer and a fair bit dryer than historical norms, according to statistics provided by the Southeast Fire Centre. The first half of September was extremely variable. Cool, unsettled conditions the first few days of the month war followed by a high pressure system which made for a few sunny, warm days.
The warmest temperature of the month and a new record daily maximum temperature of 30.2 degrees was recorded during the afternoon of September 7.
The next few days were dry but unseasonably cool as a modified Arctic airmass made a very early push into southeastern BC, forecaster Ron Lakeman said.
New record daily minimum temperatures of minus-1.1 and minus-0.7 degrees were recorded during the early morning hours of September 11 and 12. These are also the new earliest fall season below freezing temperatures on record for the Castlegar Airport, the previous earliest below freezing temperature occurred September 13, 1970.
The remainder of the month was more seasonal with a couple of Pacific disturbances providing a few cool, wet days and high pressure allowing for several warm, sunny days.
The mean monthly temperature (even with the brief modified Arctic airmass) was slightly warmer than normal for September. The total amount of rain during the month was only 62 per cent of normal.