We received less than half the normal amount of precipitation last month, even though it rained on more days than usual.
According to a monthly roundup of local weather statistics by Southeast Fire Centre forecasters Ron Lakeman and Jesse Ellis, 18.9 mm of rain fell at the Castlegar airport in September, which was only 45 per cent of the usual 42.4 mm. The record high is 123 mm, set in 1997 while the record low is none in 1972.
Rain was measured on 12 days, compared to the normal eight.
“An upper trough of low pressure dominated for relatively cool and unsettled conditions during the initial eight days of the month,” Lakeman and Ellis wrote. “Rain was recorded each day but the amounts were all in the minor to light category. Another trough produced similarly cool and unsettled conditions during the third week of the month.”
A strong but brief area of high pressure resulted in sunny and warm conditions between the 10th and 13th. The warmest temperature of the month was 32.7 degrees during the afternoon of the 12th. The record high is 36.8, set on Sept. 3, 2003.
The rest of the month was dry with relatively seasonal temperatures. Clear and calm conditions allowed for near-freezing temperatures during the early mornings of the 27th and 29th. The lows were 1.1 and 1.2 degrees respectively, cooler than normal but three to four degrees shy of the records for those dates.
The record low for the month is minus-4.3 on Sept. 28, 1984.
The mean temperature during the month was 0.8 of a degree cooler than normal.
The only record broken was a daily minimum mean (coolest average temperature) of 11.7 degrees on the 3rd.