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THE www.keremeosreview.com PM Agreement #40012521
Review 11/9/2015 1:03:44 PM
Vol.18
We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Periodical Fund of the Department of Canadian Heritage
Number 02
$1.15 including GST
Thursday, January 14, 2016
Serving the communities of Keremeos, Cawston, Okanagan Falls and Kaleden
Double the snowfall, minus the backache
Stef Laramie
Snow can be seen high up in the moutains in both these photos taken in Cawston on Monday. Tara Bowie Review Staff
Compared to last year, a year known for three massive dumps of snow that practically shutdown the community, this year residents have had for the most part a break from backbreaking shovelling. There hasn’t been a lot of heavy snowfalls this winter but there has been significant snowfall, an area meteorologist said. Although Keremeos doesn’t have a dedicated weather station, Lisa Coldwells, meteorologist, from Environment Canada was able
to pull relative data that shows the amount of snow that’s fallen in the first half of January is more than double the amount that on average falls in the first month of the year. Data collected at the Princeton weather station shows that 97millimetres of precipitation has fallen between January 1 and Tuesday morning. The average is 40-mm. Because Keremeos tends to be a bit warmer temperature wise than Princeton precipitation levels are expected to be slightly less but still significant. “Almost all the precipitation
has fallen as snow because we’ve been experiencing below freezing temperatures for almost all of the month,” she said. “It’s good because as it falls as snow it’s going to stay there as it melts. As we’re moving into spring it’s going to be slow melting so it continually recharges the soil and that’s what we want.” Temperatures over the last few months for the most part have been pretty average, but that is expected to slightly change.As this is an El Nino year the average temperature between the middle of January and
middle of February is expected to be a degree or two higher. “It doesn’t mean every day is going to be warmer. You might have a little blast of Arctic air and it’s colder or maybe some south westerly winds and it’s warmer but on average if we take the daily high and low and average it, it’ll be a few degrees warmer than when it’s not an El Nino year,” she said. An El Nino is caused by a river of warm ocean water that runs along the equator. As the season progresses it switches weather patterns.
Although the El Nino won’t play a roll in how much precipitation there is for the rest of the winter, it will determine how it falls. “If overall temperatures are slightly warmer... there will be rain in the valley bottoms and rain heading up the mountain. That’s a disadvantage because snow melts slowly and comes down the mountain as it melts where rain just runs right down,” she said. So, the moral of the story – don’t wait to get out there and enjoy the snow or you’ll be making a mud man instead of snowman.
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