A meteorologist for The Weather Network is predicting some warmer than usual weather for the Central Interior this fall - but you'll have to be patient.
Temperatures should be within the range for the time of year during the first half of the season but by the mid-October or early-November, the jetstream should be in a position to deliver some warm air to the region, Erin Wenckstern said Tuesday.
"That's why we're calling for temperatures above normal for that period of time," Wenckstern said.
As for rain, Wenckstern is expecting lower than normal amounts for most of the season.
She isn't expecting any early snow.
"We're not seeing too much of a signal for a lot of precipitation and if it does come in with some storms, the majority of it is going to fall as rain," Wenckstern said.
"Even into the higher elevations, it's not going to be as significant snow as we'd like since we have such warm temperatures."
She said an El Nino, which delivers warmer-than-normal sea surface temperatures, has developed in the Pacific. In the past, it's had enough strength to deliver a mild winter across the entire country, notably 1997-98, but not this time.
"This one's quite different than the '97-'98 one," Wenckstern said.
"Where the warmest water is has actually shifted a bit to the west into the Central Pacific versus being up along the coastline of South America.
"We're still going to be seeing warmer temperatures across Western Canada but it's Eastern Canada that's a concern for this year again, with cooler than normal temperatures most likely."
In June, TNW predicted a dry summer for most of British Columbia, including the Central Interior, which turned out to be fairly accurate. The Central Interior was "pretty lucky in terms of precipitation versus a little bit further south," Wenckstern noted.
