Our long dry spell ended this morning as rain began to fall across the region.
Meteorologist Alyssa Charbonneau of Environment Canada and Climate Change says the rain will not be plentiful at first, but normal autumn conditions are finally returning.
Charbonneau says a ridge of high pressure had been pushing storms from the Pacific Ocean north over Alaska and Yukon, causing many places on the South Coast and across Vancouver Island to experience some of the driest periods on record.
She says the long stretch of dry and warm weather was very unusual, “we’ve been setting many daily maximum temperature records right through until this week really, so not our typical fall weather at all.”
Vancouver Island and the Sunshine Coast are currently at Drought Level-5 on the provincial scale, and the wildfire season has lasted much longer.
A state of Local Emergency brought on by the drought remains in place for the Sunshine Coast Regional District,
SCRD water manager Remko Roosenboom says up to 150 millimetres of rain is needed to fully replenish Chapman Lake, their water supply.
