Prince George’s November 3.5°C warmer than average

“All the precipitation that we did get in the month of November has been rain. Typically we get about 36 cm of snowfall in November. This year we’ve had almost none,” added UNBC Department of Geography, Earth, Environmental Science Professor Stephen Dery.

Why has it been so much warmer than expected? Proctor explained so far there has been a low amount of weather systems crossing into our region, leading to warmer temperatures and less snow, although he expects that to change in the near future.

“We’re starting to see more indications of cold air beginning to come down from the Yukon and down to east of the Rockies, sort of spilling a little bit into the central interior cooling temperatures down, and we’d be seeing more typical November-like conditions as we move through this coming workweek,” Proctor said.

A low snowpack so far could have impacts reaching well into the spring and summer, as Dery explained that building up a strong snowpack is key for managing droughts, soil temperature, and more.

“What we’re concerned with regarding the dry conditions is lakes and reservoir levels. We’ve been very low again because of the drought, and we need more snow to replenish the lakes and reservoirs as we go into the spring melt,” Dery said.

“We have snow, which is highly reflective, and that obviously can cool temperatures at the surface versus rain, of course, which does not have the insulating properties of the snowpack, right? It protects the soil, which is really important for agriculture,” he continued.

Dery explained that snow specifically is needed not just for the insulating properties mentioned above, but also for the speed of its melt and how that impacts soil. For example, rain doesn’t linger, so it will simply soak into the soil, while snow can provide a prolonged melt that continuously keeps the soil moist.

“Maintaining the warmer temperatures in the soil, and then delivering that water into the soil come the spring, is really, really important to replenishing soil moisture,” he said.

Snow is on the forecast for the coming days, and while it won’t be enough to bring November’s snowpack to average monthly numbers, Dery expects it to be good news for wildlife.

“we have wildlife that depend on snow. For instance, we can talk about caribou, and they depend on really deep snow packs to reach lichen on trees,” he said.

Dery adds the mountains have actually seen relatively deep snowpacks, so he says its promising there, but he’s hoping for more snow in the valley.

Local news. Delivered. Free. Subscribe to our daily news wrap and get our top local stories delivered to your inbox every evening.

by Tommy Osborne

Prince George’s November 3.5°C warmer than average

What's Trending