Victoria/Fraser Valley – The BC River Forecast Centre released their February 2023 report and state that the South Coast and Lower Fraser snowpacks are both lower than normal.
This has raised concerns for a potential drought.
Last summer, the Fraser Valley experienced drought conditions from August to October.
The February summery noted that the Fraser River snow basin index is 75% of normal. Now there remains the potential of more snow in coming weeks but the forecast seems to be drier than usual. With two or more months left for snow accumulation, seasonal snow packs can still change.
La Niña conditions existed during fall 2022 and are trending towards neutral-ENSO or El Niño-Southern Oscillation. That means a potential of a very warm summer. We have had the opposite, La Nina over the past two years. This included the heat dome of 2021 and the drought of 2022.
About two-thirds of seasonal provincial snowpack has already accumulated.
David Campbell, head of the B.C. River Forecast Centre provided the information through the government website here – https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/environment/air-land-water/water/river-forecast/2023_feb1.pdf
