Thompson-Okanagan snowpacks remain ‘moderately high’

British Columbia's April 1 snowpack numbers have been released and they look a lot like the March 1 numbers for the Thompson-Okanagan region.

According to the report from the province’s River Forecast Centre, the Okanagan is at 116% of normal for this time of year and the North Thompson is 117%, which are both considered ‘moderately high’.

The South Thompson is just into the ‘high’ range at 123% of normal for this time of year.

For the Okanagan, that’s just 1% higher than the numbers one month ago, while both the North and South Thompson are down between 4% and 6%.

Typically, 95% of the province’s snowpack has accumulated by April 1 and they’ll hit their peaks by mid-April.

Penticton dam manager Shaun Reimer told NowMedia late in March that snowpack numbers like these did mean that the region has an elevated risk of spring flooding.

However, while he can affect the lake levels for Okanagan Lake, a lot our flooding fate in BC Interior rivers and certain lakes will depend on spring weather.

“While snowpack is one risk factor for freshet flooding, snowpack alone cannot predict whether flooding will occur or not,” said the BC RFS report.

“Spring weather is also a critical flood risk factor and the timing and severity of temperature and rainfall patterns are important drivers of flooding irrespective of snowpack levels.”

Warmer weather in the coming days could begin the melt of the lower elevation snow, but cooler weather into the spring will likely delay the onset of the melt at higher elevations.

The most favourable situation for the BC Interior would be continued dry weather and seasonal temperatures.