Cool weather is good news

The cooler weather that rolled into the province this week bodes well for the Southern Interior, where warm temperatures at the end of March accelerated snowmelt beyond historical norms.

Province-wide, the snowpack averaged 99% of normal on April 1, according to the monthly report from the BC River Forecast Centre. This is down from 105% of normal on March 1, thanks to a combination of dry conditions and relatively warm temperatures in late March.

Individual basins run from a high of 134% in the Northwest to 72% in the Chilcotin.

“[The Okanagan] dropped from 86% of normal on March 1 to 74%,” says River Forecast Centre hydrologist Jonathan Boyd. “We’ve got one site at Brenda Mine, which is located on the connector between Merritt and Kelowna. It goes back about 30 years of data at an automated station with measurements taken every hour. … Right now, it’s pushing to be one of the earliest melts ever recorded at that station. That’s pretty substantial.”

But the arrival of cooler weather this week should help slow the rate of melting.

“It’s an ideal situation for Merritt and the Okanagan and lower elevation areas in the Cariboo and Chilcotin,” Boyd says. “For the agricultural side of things and areas in the Interior, it’s probably a positive to get into cooler conditions for the next week or so and wetter conditions.”

Cool, wet weather not only slows the melting but can add to the snowpack. Ideally, this will extend its life further into the spring, if favourable conditions prevail.

“The best case scenario for anyone in agriculture is to have the snow melt process get delayed as long as possible without any catastrophic flooding and keeping flows higher into the summer months,” explains Boyd.

While this week’s conditions may lower the risk of freshet-related flooding this spring in the Interior, it’s difficult to predict how the weather will impact the wildfire season.

“It really revolves around the weather as we move into May and June and into the summer,” says Boyd. “For areas in the South Interior, it’s definitely on aim to be on the worse-side-of-things, to have less snow. The catch-22 is that if you have high snow, which is better for drought and wildfire, it’s riskier for floods. Ideally, we want those average years, but they never seem to happen.”

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7 hours ago

Forty-six regions in BC are eligible to participate in the federal livestock tax deferral program, announced yesterday, more than anywhere else in the country. The program allows producers who downsize their breeding herds by 15% to defer reporting the proceeds until the following year, when they buy replacement stock. But after multiple years of drought, the BC beef herd is cruising 25-year lows and some producers are calling for more support to maintain and rebuild their herds. For more, see: [www.countrylifeinbc.com/bc-leads-livestock-tax-deferrals/]

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4 days ago

After weeks and weeks of no moisture, there's rain in Kelowna today. While much more moisture is needed over the coming weeks and months to reduce drought conditions and the air smells of wet campfire, the slow, steady rain is very welcome for fruit grower#BCAg#BCAg ... See MoreSee Less

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5 days ago

The first Delta Farmland and Wildlife Trust Grassland Set-aside Variety Trial Field Day was held at Delta's family-owned Tecarte Farms, August 27. Co-owner Bill Bates and DFWT executive director Christine Schmalz welcomed more than 35 people to view seven acres planted to different grassland blends specifically chosen to rejuvenate the soil and support the farm's blueberries. For the Bates family, it was time to try something different following the decline of the field's blueberry bushes over the past several years. "We tried everything, and nothing worked," says Bates. The blueberries were removed in May and the grassland crops planted about a week later.

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Bessette Creek is the latest watershed hit with a temporary fish protection order this year as the province moves to protect returning Chinook salmon. A total of 131 surface and groundwater users must cease drawing water immediately, with forage producers, greenhouses and nurseries impacted. "Declining flows in Bessette Creek reached record lows in early July 2026 and have remained below the minimum level required to support fish population survival," says the province. Bessette producers have embraced voluntary cutbacks, scheduled irrigation and other measures to reduce water use, and are also waiting on funding to boost water storage infrastructure. They're the second group of producers hit with a provincial order this year. Salmon River irrigators were told to top watering earlier this month following a reprieve to address wildfire risk. Growers in both the Salmon River and Bessette watersheds are urging the province to support new water storage infrastructure in advance of next year.

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There is a problem... having lived in the salmon river ( silver creek ) area, I remember a fish biologist telling family members that salmon only "survive" in high iron content creeks, they do not "thrive".... salmon river ( silver creek ) is a very high iron content, would stain clothes brown when i would use bleach... So don't expect high salmon numbers off of that creek , even in ideal situations...

I just wish they would take an interest in CHASE CREEK....went bone dry...100% of trout abd other species died...smell was terrible from rotting fish. Understand this has happened many times in the past. Chase Irrigation District totally responsible for this disaster. Now fishermen are complaining about major drop in water levels at Pillar Lake.

They could not mismanage things worse than they have. It's impossible for them to. The fact that farmers that we need for our animals are now suffering the consequences our governments have not protected us from, is absolutely fucking wild.