Extremely low snow pack on southwest B.C. mountains
South Coast mountains have just 13 per cent of normal snow pack for early April
Snow pack is "extremely low" in southwest B.C., with levels on South Coast mountains reaching just 13 per cent of normal for early April, according to new data released yesterday by the River Forecast Centre.
Across B.C., the amount of water stored as snow — which is important to keep streams flowing through the summer — is at the second-lowest level recorded in 31 years.
Precipitation was well above average in B.C. in March, reaching double the normal levels in some locations. But with warm weather, most of it fell as rain.
Normally, snow pack reaches its peak in mid-April, but this year it fell between March and April surveys, wrote the River Forecast Centre in its monthly update.
Here are the regions with the five lowest snow packs in the province as of April 1, compared to normal:
- South Coast — 13 per cent
- Vancouver Island — 15 per cent
- Lower Fraser — 26 per cent
- Skagit — 34 per cent
- Boundary — 61 per cent