Gloomy and cool weather is forecast for the rest of the week, but the end of spring and this summer could be filled with above-average heat in BC.
Daily Hive spoke with Environment and Climate Change Canada meteorologist Trevor Smith, who painted a window into what to expect to cap off spring and what conditions we could see this summer.
Some of the conditions we’ve seen over the last few months have been thanks to El Nino, which Smith had some information about.
“El Nino is actually weakening,” Smith said, adding that there’s still a lingering “thermal inertia” that could have some impact on the weather in BC over the next few months, up until September.
It’s too early to tell what precipitation we might see over the next few months, but Smith says strong signals point to above-average temperatures to close out spring, specifically from the middle to end of May, perfect for May long weekend campers.
We also heard from Bill Merryfield, a research scientist at the Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling and Analysis with ECCC, who said there was an 80% chance of warmer-than-average conditions in May.
Merryfield says there’s up to a 70% chance that average summer temperatures will be above normal in BC, meaning that the odds for a hot summer are elevated compared to an average year.
Could it be an extreme summer? Merryfield says it’s too early to tell.
“What can be said is that a high forecast probability for above normal summer temperatures implies an increased chance of having some very hot days, although currently, we cannot be more specific than that.”
We also asked Smith whether we could see another heat dome, but Smith told Daily Hive that the timeframe to predict an event like that would be between seven and ten days prior to it.
ECCC’s weather maps also show a high probability of above-average temperatures in the Vancouver area between May and July.
ECCC
What weather are you hoping for in BC this spring and summer?