The month of March was a record breaker in terms of most rainy days but was on par for temperatures.
According to data from the Castlegar airport it rained or snowed on 28 days last month smashing the previous record of days with measurable precipitation, 21, from 2003.
“It was a very wet and eventful month with a near endless series of Pacific disturbances pushing across southern B.C.,” said Southeast Fire Centre forecaster Ron Lakeman.
The total amount of precipitation was 68 per cent greater than normal and the monthly snowfall was nearly double. The total precipitation measured 103 millimetres in March up from the monthly average of 61mm.
Despite the cooling daytime trend, due to warmer evening temperatures the mean temperature was 3.8 C, just below the norm of 3.9 C.
And the cool, wet weather is not showing any signs of letting up as the forecast for April is for much the same, said forecaster Mike Woodroff.
“It’s relative to the season, the below normal temperatures and high precip, like last month is still in the forecast.”
The highlight of the month came on March 31 where the monthly high measured 17 C compared to a low of -7.5 C on March 1.
As is typical of a La Nina winter, the local snowpack was very slow to melt so flooding is a definite possibility if the cool weather persists.
“What you need is a week of warm weather, a week of cool, a week of warm, a week of cool - it flushes down, then eases off. If you stay cool and then suddenly warms up quickly, it all melts at once.”