The provincial drought level rating for Vancouver Island has been increased to three.

According to the BC Drought Information Portal, a drought level of three means adverse affects could be expected.

As of May 15, many of the rivers on Vancouver Island were running below normal for mid-May, mostly on Southern Vancouver Island.

Those rivers include the Englishman River near Parksville, the Little Qualicum River near Qualicum Beach, the Koksilah River and Cowichan River near Duncan, and the Nanaimo River near Cassidy.

The Tsolum River at Courtenay is normal for mid-May and Quinsam Creek near Campbell River is below normal, along with the Elk River above Campbell Lake.

The weekend forecast for the Island and Sunshine Coast calls for periods of rain, with up to 10 millimetres expected for the Comox Valley and Campbell River regions.

The May 1st Snow Pack report from the Ministry of Water Lands and Resource Stewardship reported the amount of snow in Island mountains at 70 per cent of normal and 74 per cent of normal for the Sunshine Coast.