This past spring in the Kamloops area was the driest in 120 years and second driest on record, according to data from Environment Canada.

Meteorologist Armel Castellan tells NL News that just 10.3 mm of rain fell between March and May, compared to the usual 54 mm, with records going back to 1891.

“It’s not just Kamloops that was very dry, it’s also Vernon, Kelowna, Penticton, Cranbrook, Abbotsford, Vancouver, and even on Vancouver Island in Campbell River, Nanaimo, and Victoria,” Castellan said, noting the situation is alarming.

Of the 10.3 mm of rain that fell in the Kamloops area during the three months known as the meteorological spring, 5.8 mm fell last month.

“2019 is in a lot of ways very similar to this year because the spring of 2019 was very warm, actually warmer than it has been so far this year. It was also very dry,” he said. “And so by the middle of June, we were very concerned that we were going to have a stronger wildfire year in 2019.”

“We still have the possibility that Mother Nature comes clean but in that particular year, in 2019, it over delivered and we had the Chilcotin floods in the early part of July.”

As for this June, Castellan says the threat of drought or wildfire in the Kamloops area will depend on the amount of rain that falls this month. There is some rain in the forecast this weekend, but beyond that, it remains to be seen.

“Now we are into the crunch. We’ve got the month of June essentially before things are traditionally drier and it’s the hottest time of year in July and August,” he added. “June isn’t looking like it was going to be terribly wet to kind of catchup on this enormous deficit of coming back to values that are relatively normal for this time of year.”

“It does look like something that everybody should be wary of. It should concern everybody.”

In the spring of 2019, there was 37.3 mm of rain that fell in the Kamloops area between March and May. Last year, in 2020, it was close to normal with 53 mm, while in 2017 and 2018 there was above average rainfall in the spring with 71 mm and 65mm respectively.

The driest meteorological spring on record in the Kamloops area was in 1901 when just 5.8 mm of rain fell in March, April, and May.