December slightly cooler than normal
By Nelson Daily Staff
The silly season is over and so is the month of December at the Southeast Fire Centre.
Weather Forecaster Ron Lakeman said in the monthly synopsis that temperature in December was “0.5 of a degree cooler than normal” and amount of precipitation — mainly snow — “was 78% of normal.”
“A Pacific system pushed across southern BC for periods of rain and wet snow during the initial two days of the month,” Lakeman explained.
“A series of systems produced more frequent snow the night of the December 14th through the night of the December 19th and again December 27th through the morning of December 30th.”
Lakeman said the most significant system dumped 30 centimetres of snow on December 19th with another 23.6 centimetres of snow falling between the 27th and 30th.
“A strong upper ridge of high pressure dominated for 12 days of persistent valley cloud and near seasonal temperatures from December 3rd through 14th,” Lakeman said.
“A modified Arctic air mass pushed across southeastern BC for cooler/below freezing temperatures during the final 11 days of the month.”
The coldest temperature of the month was -11.9 degrees during the early morning of December 24th.
Early forecast for January from Environment Canada has temperature hovering around the freezing mark during the day and dipping a little overnight.
