July was warm and dry in the Cariboo and near record warm in Williams Lake.
Brian Proctor, a Meteorologist with Environment Canada, says the mean temperature in Quesnel was 18.6 degrees last month, which was much warmer than the normal of 16.8, and was the 7th warmest in Quesnel’s history dating back to 1893.
He says Williams Lake was even warmer.
“Looking at Williams Lake, 19.2 was the mean temperature in July this year versus a normal of 16.0 so even a stronger anomaly there of 3.2 degrees. It was second warmest in the period of record for Williams Lake airport. So warmer and the further south you went in the Cariboo the more pronounced that warm temperature anomaly was.”
Environment Canada doesn’t have records for 100 Mile House but that means the District was also definitely warmer than normal and potentially record warm.
In term of precipitation in the Cariboo, Proctor says it was definitely dry.
“For Quesnel, there was 32.3 millimeters recorded at the airport, versus a normal of 65.6, and the 33rd driest in the period of record with data there going back to 1893. And looking at Williams Lake, there was 34.5 millimeters recorded at the airport, versus a normal of 52.7, so the 19th driest on the period of record for Williams Lake with data going back to 1961.”
Proctor says the totals represent 49.2 percent of normal for Quesnel and 65.5 percent for Williams Lake.
Looking ahead to this month, he says the seasonal forecast for August still supports dry and warm weather across much of British Columbia.
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