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July’s weather was one for the record books

Hottest and driest July on record in the Central Okanagan
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Environment Canada says July was a record breaker when it came to temperature and lack of precipitation, and as we enter August, the heat is sticking around. —Image credit: Carli Berry/Capital News

Last month was the hottest—and driest—July in the Central Okanagan since records started to be kept here in 1969.

According to meteorologist Alyssa Charbonneau with Environment Canada, the average daily temperature here last month was 23.3 C, way higher than the normal average for the month of 19.5 C.

And when it came to precipitation, well, there wasn’t any.

For just the second time on record, no precipitation was recorded in the Central Okanagan during the month of July. The last time that happened was 2003, the year Kelowna was hit hard by the devastating Okanagan Mountain Park wildfire, which destroyed more than 240 homes at the south end of the city.

And it was not just here where it was hot and dry.

In Vernon, no precipitation was recorded in July for the first time since records there were kept in 1900. And, in Penticton, it was just the third dry July since 1907.

In Kelowna, the average amount precipitation recorded in July is 37.2 millimetres, mainly a result of thunderstorms that pass through at this time of year said Charbonneau.

She added there is little respite expected in the near future. The forecast is for continued hot weather with the possibility of it cooling just a few degrees in the coming weeks.

That may be helped by the other atmospheric irritant out there right now, the heavy smoke from wildfires in the B.C. Interior and south of use in Washington State.

Charbonneau said the smoke it may keep the temperature a few degrees lower than it would otherwise be because it will reflect the solar energy from the sun.

But, she warned, the public should expect it to remain very hot for the foreseeable future.