River and reservoir levels are dropping rapidly across British Columbia and much earlier than normal, according to weather officials.
The situation is so extreme that B.C.’s River Forecast Centre is concerned we are heading into uncharted territory.
“We’ve never seen this before,” said Dave Campbell, the head of the forecast centre, in an interview with CHEK News Monday.
“We are really going to need to see wet weather and persistent wet weather for the next several weeks if we were to avoid significant drought for places like Vancouver Island for later this summer.”
Environment Canada tells CHEK News that wet and persistent weather is not coming in the near future.
“During the summer, we typically have an offshore ridge that keeps the province dry, and this ridge is anchored offshore, and it’s pretty much-preventing systems from streaming towards the province,” said Environment Canada meteorologist Ken Dosanjh.
Very few regions in the province are not on drought alert. According to the B.C. Drought Information Portal, Vancouver Island is at Level 3, meaning adverse effects of drought are possible.
Officials are asking people to conserve water now as we head into what could be a history-making drought season.
Tchadas Leo
