The annual spring green up is still getting underway, following another well-below normal month for precipitation. (Alex Rawnsley/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Alex Rawnsley

bone dry

Dry March adding to cumulative rainfall deficit for Nanaimo

Apr 3, 2023 | 4:45 PM

NANAIMO — It was far from a record breaker, but another month has passed us by without considerable precipitation ahead of the pending fire season.

March in Nanaimo saw 54 millimetres of precipitation recorded by Environment Canada at their airport monitoring station, around 48 per cent of the historical average of 113 millimetres.

Armel Castellan, meteorologist with Environment Canada, told NanaimoNewsNOW the lack of showers further compounded a precipitation deficit which has built over recent months and years.

“We’re looking at a dry February, a relatively dry January and November…and you can kind of think about it on an almost cumulative level over many years, then it does take a long time where you do see above average rain and snowfall for there to be a catch-up.”

Environment Canada’s weather station in Qualicum Beach was drier still, recording the least amount of precipitation on eastern Vancouver Island through March.

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Just 31.6 millimetres were collected, roughly 26 per cent of the average.

Monitoring stations in Port Hardy and the Comox Valley were also around 50 per cent of normal rainfall, while areas in the B.C. interior set marks which sat in the top five of driest March’s ever.

Throughout the region, the weather was notably cooler than normal with Nanaimo thermometres averaging five degrees Celsius, 1.3 degrees lower than normal.

What’s to come through April and May, as well as the all important month of June which Castellan said is a key one for the fire season, is anyone’s guess.

“It is really, really difficult at this point to look at how the sea surface temperatures offshore of North America, which are still below seasonal values and that’s a result of the third La Nina winter in a row.”

Despite the La Nina pattern ending and the region being in a neutral zone for Pacific waters, we’re still feeling the lingering effects with colder than normal waters feeding weather patterns.

“We’re likely to see a continued trend towards the slightly cooler conditions. It’s not to say we’re not warming up…whether we’ll be a couple of degrees cooler remains a little, bit more likely than not.”

Castellan said the Easter long weekend is looking a little warmer than recent days, but forecasters are presently calling for a good chance of showers beginning Good Friday night.

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