You can sum up what the weather was like in July in the Cariboo in just two words…hot and dry.
Bobby Sekhon, Meteorologist for Environment Canada, said Williams Lake was quite above the seasonal average when it came to temperatures
“It was a warm and dry month especially in Williams Lake, quite a bit above average. The average monthly temperature was 19.6 compared to the normal of 16 degrees so that’s almost 3.6 degrees above average making it the hottest July on record. Quesnel fared a little bit cooler at 18.5, compared to the average of 16.8 degrees celsius, which made 1.7 degrees above average good enough for 7th place.
When it came to the amount of precipitation that fell in the Cariboo in July, Sekhon said Quesnel saw 27 millimetres of precipitation compared to the average monthly of 66 millimetres, which is only 41% of the average precipitation.
Sekhon noted that most of that rain came in one day when Quesnel received 19 millimetres fell on the 21st of July.
Looking at the long forecast, we asked Sekhon if there was any rain on the way for the region.
“We do have a bit of a shift in the weather coming to the Cariboo. We’re going to be trending towards cooler, unsettled weather over the next few days. Today (August 5) we do have showers this afternoon with a risk of a thunderstorm and that will continue into this evening as well. Tomorrow (August 6th) looks to be a drier day but cooler temperatures of just 21 degrees on Friday and getting down on Friday night all the way to 9 degrees. On the weekend Saturday, Sunday we can also expect a chance of showers and cooler weather.”
Sekhon added we’re going to be returning to the heat next week as temperatures rise again on Monday through Wednesday.