Last month was the warmest and driest July in West Kootenay since 2007.
According to a monthly roundup of weather statistics from the Southeast Fire Centre in Castlegar, the average temperature for the month was 2.5 degrees warmer than normal, while the total rainfall was only 23 per cent of normal.
“An upper ridge of high pressure dominated for 23 days in which the maximum temperature surpassed 30 degrees,” weather specialist Ron Lakeman said.
The hottest temperature was 38.8 degrees on the afternoon of the 29th. The only new record daily high was 37.3 degrees on the 16th. Most of the month’s temperature records were set in 1985, 1994, 2003, and 2007.
The warmest July on record is 2007, while 1985 was the driest, when only a trace amount of precipitation fell. The all-time high temperature for July is 39.9 degrees, set on July 30, 2003.
The only significant rain during the month was 8.4 millimetres which Lakeman said occurred “with a brief but severe thunderstorm associated with a cold front’s passage” during the early evening of the 23rd.
In all, we received 11.1 millimetres of rain, compared to the normal 48.1 millimetres. The record high of 143.2 millimetres was set in 1998.