The warm and dry winter continued in February as an upper ridge of high pressure dominated the first three weeks of a normally grey month.
According to Ron Lakeman, weather forecaster at the Southeast Fire Centre in Castlegar, the total amount of precipitation during the month was only 43 per cent of normal.
“The majority of the month’s total precipitation, more than 70 per cent, was due to a more active storm cycle during the final seven days of the month,” he said.
The greatest daily snowfall amounted to 7 cm of the wet stuff falling on the 22nd with another 6.6 cm falling during the night of the 24th and morning of the 25th.
In February only 9 mm of rain fell which is 31 per cent of normal and 18.5 cm of snow amounting to 55 per cent of normal.
The unusually sunny state meant a monthly temperature averaging 1.6 degrees Celsius milder than normal. The warmest temperature recorded in February was 9.1 degrees on the afternoon of the 15th.
“High pressure and the resulting sunshine or sunny periods allowed for near record maximum temperatures between the 13th and 15th and again on the 17th,” says Lakeman.
The record high of 14.3 degrees was set on February 28 in 2010. The record low was minus 21 degrees on February 3 in 1996.