If you thought July was colder and wetter than usual in Prince George, you’re not wrong.
However, if you think we’ve missed out on summer, there may be a glimmer of hope for a warmer-than-normal fall.
Looking back, July temperatures were almost a degree below average hitting 15 C when it’s normally around 15.8 C, and there was more precipitation than usual.
“It started out cool and wet but thankfully ended a little warmer and drier here in the last few days of July and first few days of August,” says Doug Lundquist, a meteorologist with Environment Canada.
“We had 89 mm of rain and we usually get 62 mm so we were 45 per cent wetter than usual, so definitely on that wet and cool side for sure.”
Lundquist says that’s because the June rains lasted longer than expected.
“It’s usually over by the third to the 10th but it lasted till much later in the month. It’s the upper-low pattern trough of low pressure over the eastern Pacific and over B.C. that just lasted about a week longer than it usually does, so that tipped the scale in favour of colder and wetter.”
Looking at the coming weeks, Lunquist says the temperature is going to hover just above and below the averages.
“It’s going to be fairly warm for the next couple of days with 23 C then cool with showers coming on Thursday (Aug. 6), so starting the weekend on the cool side but warming up on Sunday and Monday to the low 20s,” says Lundquist.
“So we are kind of moving above and below the average high which is 23 C.”
In terms of what the weather is going to look like towards the end of the month and into the fall, Lundquist says the seasonal outlook looks a tad bit warmer than average.
“That ridge of high pressure might want to be building back so we may start to get into warmer weather towards the end of the month and maybe just maybe it will persist into the first month of fall,” he says.
“The outlook for August, September and October is more likely above average — That suggests to me that if its cooler here or close to average for the next couple of weeks then maybe, just maybe, we’ll extend a little bit of summer into the beginning of fall.”
