March – provincial firefighters are already issuing warnings about increased fire risk in several areas of B.C this weekend due to a lower than usual snowpack.

Concerns about water levels and salmon streams were raised last week. Now provincial authorities are warning about the potential for an earlier than usual wildfire season.

The Kamloops Fire Centre says grass and small shrubs are unseasonably dry and dead grasses have quickly dried out — conditions not normally seen until April. The Southeast Fire Centre in the Kootenays has issued a similar warning.

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Weather
Temperatures across British Columbia continued to be well above normal through the month of January. Temperatures were generally 2-4°C above normal, with the largest temperature anomalies occurring in the Central Interior and northern British Columbia. January sea surface temperature anomalies in the Pacific Ocean off the shores of British Columbia have continued to be several degrees above normal.

January precipitation trends have been varied across the province. Vancouver Island, South Coast, and Kootenays experienced below normal precipitation. Above normal precipitation occurred in the Okanagan, Interior, Central Coast and Northwest BC. With increased temperatures, particularly on Vancouver Island and south-west BC, rainfall was the dominant form of precipitation through mid-elevation terrain.

Snowpack
Snow pack accumulation trends from early in the season have persisted throughout January. With the exception of the Upper Fraser West and the Central Coast, all regions of the province have below normal February 1st snow basin indices. Snow basin indices range from a low of 12 % on the Skagit to a high of 148% of in Upper Fraser – West.

More figures expected on Monday for February.