By Dominic Abassi

126-year-old records tested by intensely rainy January in Nanaimo

Feb 2, 2018 | 4:57 PM

NANAIMO — January proved to be one of the wettest ever in Nanaimo, including a three day stretch featuring intense and record-setting rainfall.

Environment Canada’s Armel Castellan said it was the sixth-wettest January on record for Nanaimo, with 308 mm of rain falling at the airport. He said it was a month where the region was pounded by “one storm after another” and 27 of the 31 days featured some form of precipitation.

“Those are some pretty strong numbers and they only happen when we do have an atmospheric river,” he said, noting Nanaimo saw 164 per cent of the normal amount of rainfall last month based on records dating back to 1892.

A nasty storm late in the month produced near-catastrophic issues around the region. Roads were washed out, homes flooded and river banks breached.

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Castellan said 110 mm of rain fell over a three-day span, including 64 mm on Jan. 28, the most ever recorded on that day.

“Certainly a pretty strong event and certainly the impacts of that much rain are not lost on anybody.”

The wild month continued a trend of extreme weather for the region.

In 2017, Nanaimo saw twice the average snowfall, the second-wettest spring and the fifth-driest summer on record.

“There’s no denying the weather has been seeing more extremes,” Castellan said. “Daily records are becoming more commonplace and that’s part of what happens when an atmosphere has more moisture available to it. When temperatures rise globally, there’s higher moisture content…This is something that is beginning to be the new normal.”

Castellan said people can look forward to longer days ahead, gaining about a minute or two of daylight per day. He doesn’t expect to see another snow event, although the back half of February could be slightly colder than normal.

dom@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @domabassi