Chance of drought looms with rainfall well below average in parts of B.C.

Last year's dry fall remains a concern for the BC Wildfire Service, which has recorded 40 fires so far this spring.

Late winter and early spring may have felt damp and dreary, but in reality British Columbia has seen lower-than average rainfall — raising the concerns about a potentially dry summer.

“Obviously we’ve had a few storms, but generally speaking we are talking about a deficit that is multi-month, multi-season at this point,” Environment Canada warning preparedness meteorologist Armell Castellan explained.

“We are now about to turn a pretty strong corner from a much cooler than normal seasonal pattern that we’ve had really since the second half of February, and about to change that really in a heartbeat here at the end of the week.”

Castellan said it’s too early to forecast whether parts of the province could see drought conditions this summer, but the lingering consequences of last year’s unusually dry fall are still being felt.

Last year’s dry fall remains a concern for the BC Wildfire Service, which has recorded 40 fires so far this spring.

That’s well below the 10-year average, but wildfire information officer Karley Desrosiers said dry conditions on the ground could see that change quickly.

“Things were drier than usual coming into the winter because we did have hotter than average days throughout the month of October, we were seeing temperatures about four to 10 degrees higher on an given day,” she said.

“Then winter came really quickly, so that quick transition from almost summer-like conditions to winter meant the ground froze quickly and didn’t allow what we typically see: the fall precipitation able to seep into the ground and really saturate it, so unfortunately those over-winter drought conditions weren’t really mitigated.”