By Ian Holmes

Nanaimo desert-dry as year of extreme weather continues

Sep 1, 2017 | 3:41 PM

NANAIMO — Rain has been almost non-existent in the Nanaimo area, in what has been a year of extreme, record-breaking weather.

Environment Canada Meteorologist Cindy Yu told NanaimoNewsNOW their data shows it’s been an extremely dry summer in the Harbour City.

“If we look at those two months (July and August) we only had 2.8 mm of precipitation and that was the driest July and August on record.”

Only 0.4 mm of rain fell in July, followed by just 2.4 mm in August, Yu said.

Yu noted a few steady rainfalls in June aside, it was the fifth driest summer on record in Nanaimo and ninth warmest.

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The average temperature was 18.2 C, almost a full degree warmer than average.

Yu said it has been a year of “pretty extreme, stubborn weather patterns.”

It started with one of the coldest winters in Nanaimo of all-time, followed by the second-wettest spring ever with 365 mm of rain from March through May.

On Friday, the province issued a level three drought warning for Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands, urging a voluntary 30 per cent water-use reduction for all surface and groundwater users.

Nanaimo water resrouces manager Bill Sims said while it’s been a “heavy use” summer, the Jump Lake reservoir is more than 70% full.

ian@NanaimoNewsNOW.com

On Twitter: @reporterholmes