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The trend of warmer and drier than average weather conditions continued into June for much of the mid-Island. (Jordan Davidson/NanaimoNewsNOW)
dry June

Hot and dry June weather expected to continue all summer for Nanaimo and area

Jul 3, 2025 | 5:22 AM

NANAIMO — Another warmer and drier than average month in the Harbour City, with similar conditions likely in store for the mid-Island for the rest of the summer.

The prediction is according to meteorologist with Environment Canada Matt Loney, who said at 16.6 degrees Celsius, June was about one degree warmer than usual in Nanaimo, ranked as the 21st warmest June in 133 years.

“In terms of the dryness, 30.8 millimetres were measured at the observing station with the normal being 43.4, so we received about 71 per cent of normal, and that ranked as the 46th driest. Records for temperatures have been kept since 1892, and for precipitation.”

The month started off with a week’s worth of warmer-than-average conditions, getting hot enough on June 8 to break a 122-year-old daily high temperature record in Nanaimo.

Lower-than-average snowpack levels reported on June 1, combined with a predicted hot and dry summer forecast, have experts concerned about drought conditions worsening and the increased wildfire risk.

“The exact per cent of normal precipitation from January to June for Nanaimo is currently 75 per cent of normal,” said Loney. “We’ve had a couple of spurts of rainfall in May and a few in June which helped, but overall, because we had such a dry March and April, we’re still making that up.”

Nanaimo normally sees around 165 millimetres of precipitation by this point in the year, with just over 100 millimetres falling so far in 2025.

Loney said their forecast models look for signs of precipitation or temperature anomalies in five-week chunks, and the rest of July and August will likely follow the same pattern as the last few months.

“Everything I’m looking at has, for much of Coastal B.C., a drier and warmer signature there, so the potential is there to amplify those precipitation deficits, if this is any indication.”

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