VANCOUVER – Residents of B.C. could be in for a hot and dry summer this year.
Environment Canada says they are starting to notice an El Niño pattern develop in the ocean’s currents.
Global BC meteorologist Kristi Gordon says warmer ocean temperatures are moving east towards the Americas, and while it is not certain an El Niño will develop this year, so far it looks like a “textbook El Niño pattern.”
B.C. saw similar temperatures in 1997, the last time we experienced El Niño. This weather pattern brings a really hot and dry summer followed by a warm and extremely wet winter, with lots of snow.
Environment Canada says it looks like this year we will see above average temperatures during the summer. Average temperatures for July in Vancouver are usually around 22 degrees.
If El Niño develops it could last for a few years.
The warmer weather is already good news for the berry industry.
“The crop is extremely early for us,” says one Richmond farmer. “This year the weather patterns have almost been perfect for strawberries.”
“We’re 10 days earlier than last year, the third earliest in the last 20.”
However, a hot and dry summer is not welcome for everyone. The Fire Centre in Kamloops is gearing up for the possibility of a busy, destructive season ahead.
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