B.C.'s April dry streak comes to an end, temporarily, but fails to break records
It's been decades since some of these B.C. cities had such a long dry period in April
Bone dry conditions have been plaguing British Columbia in the month of April. That is until now.
Throughout the first half of April, just a couple of millimetres of precipitation reached the ground in many parts of the South Coast – a province famous for plentiful April showers.
It would be mildly unusual in July, but it's stunningly rare in April.
How did this streak stack up historically?
Vancouver's rain-free streak recently cracked the top 10 days without precipitation, which was the longest such endeavour since 1975.
That streak is now over, lasting 12 consecutive days without rainfall. Light precipitation was reported Friday and Saturday morning. It should be noted that Vancouver airport has only received 2.4 mm of rainfall as of April 17, and just a few sprinkles into early Saturday morning.
For the City of Victoria, the streak of consecutive days without rainfall ended at 13. It couldn't stay dry long enough to surpass the previous longest April rain-free streak in 1951.
The city recorded 0.2 mm of rain Friday, and previous to that, rainfall occurred on April 3. It has only received 5 mm of rain as of April 17.
However, troughing looks to be maintained over the Aleutian Islands next week, with a persistent ridge just west of the coast of British Columbia. This province typically hogs most of Canada's warmth and as you trek east, an omega block is set up with troughing over most of eastern Canada for the foreseeable future.