Get ready for the spring’s warmest weekend yet.
Environment Canada says daytime temperatures in the Okanagan could reach 23 C on April 13 and 14.
That’s up from highs of around 15 C most of the region has experienced during the week of April 8 to 12.
“It’s definitely going to be a very warm weekend across the southern Interior, especially in the Okanagan,” said Brian Proctor, a meteorologist at Environment and Climate Change.
In Penticton for Okanagan Fest of Ale on Saturday, April 13, the federal department is forecasting sunny skies with a daytime high of 23 C. Conditions are expected to be similar on Sunday.
Kelowna and Vernon will also reach marks of 22 C and 23 C over the weekend.
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Average daytime highs during this time of year are 15 C, according to Environment Canada.
While conditions this weekend will be about 7 C warmer than normal, meteorologists are also noting the lack of forecasted precipitation.
“In general terms, this isn’t the time of year where we tend to see a lot of precipitation,” Proctor began. “But when we look at what we’ve seen historically, we’re still very much drier into spring than what we’ve typically been in the past.
Drier-than-normal and we’ll still see those problems associated with that moving forward.”
Vernon has recorded 0.8 millimetres of precipitation this month, as of April 12. Kelowna, meanwhile, has experienced 1.18 millimetres of rain in April.
“Penticton has been outliner so far this month, this 5.6 millimetres this month,” Proctor explained. “[These numbers] for April are pretty close to what we would normally expect for this time of year.”
The meteorologist says temperatures will begin to cool down across the region on Tuesday, April 15, but jump back up to normal, or near warmer-than-normal marks by the end of next week.
“That little bit of coolness looks to be fairly brief in duration and then we’ll be back to normal by Wednesday, Thursday and Friday next week,” Proctor said.