Gardeners and golfers had almost ideal conditions throughout October because the month was one of the driest on record with plenty of sunshine.
“October was remarkably dry, but other than a lot of great outdoor weather, no other records were broken,” said weather forecaster, Chris Cowan, from the Southeast Fire Centre.
Monthly statistics provided by the Centre’s weather services in Castlegar show the region received 7.4 millimetres of rain in October, which is 15 per cent of the average 48 mm.
The month was the fourth driest on record with most of the rain falling during a brief band of afternoon showers on Oct. 7 and an evening downpour of 2.6 mm on Oct. 26, said Ron Lakeman, the Centre’s forecaster in his month end report.
Lakeman noted that past dry Octobers were in 2002, 1987, and 1974, with 2.2 mm, 5 mm, and 3.8 mm of precipitation respectively.
Although the mean monthly temperature was close to normal, a high pressure system during the first week of the month brought sunshine and the warmest temperature, 20.7 C on Oct. 6., but well short of the record high of 27.2 in 1980.
The month ended on a cool note with the coolest temperature of October recorded on Oct. 30 when it dipped to -4.6 C.
An upper level flow brought a significant drop in temperature and approximately 30 centimetres of snow on the mountains between Saturday and Sunday, explained Cowan.
“That was a strong disturbance that changed the weather from what we had to what is on the way,” he said.
The first week of November will see chilly temperatures, on the cold side of normal, with an increased chance of rain or snow by Thursday, continued Cowan.