The skies over Prince George are looking pretty gloomy today and it’s not exactly beach weather, but don’t despair.
Summer is on the way.
Starting on Wednesday a strong ridge of high pressure will start to build off the coast of B.C. and it’s going to bring the first heat wave of the season to the central Interior.
The expected high temperature today of 18 C is three degrees cooler than normal for this time of year. There’s a 30 per cent chance of showers today and tonight with wind gusting to 40 kilometres per hour.
The sun will return on Wednesday with the predicted high of 22 C under a mix of sun and cloud, warming to 23 C on Thursday and 24 C on Friday.
The hot stuff starts on the weekend and Environment Canada is predicting a high of 28 C on Saturday and 32 C on Sunday, and it could get even hotter on Monday under the blazing sun, with the high forecast to reach 34 C.
Those highs are the shade temperatures and it will be even hotter under the sun, so take precautions. Wear sunscreen, drink lots of water and find an air-conditioning indoor place to cool off
Lows this week will range from 8-11 C
The normal high/low for this time of year is 22/9 C.
“Our weather models go out to two weeks and they’re pretty unreliable beyond 10 days, but for those 10 days we see the ridge dominating the flow over British Columbia, beginning this week and warming up for foreseeable future,” said Environment Canada meteorologist Chris Doyle.
“It’s a dry northwesterly flow aloft, getting hotter and drier. Climatologically, this time of year you get a ridge developing over the U.S. southwest and we start to get warmer when that ridge expands north, and that’s what it’s doing.”
The entire province will be getting hot, with the exception of the far northwest, on the North Coast/Cassiar region, which will remain col and rainy.
It was a cool and rainy June in Prince George -not great for a dip in the lake - but perfect for growing peas in the garden.
The mean temperature (the average of the daytime high and the nighttime low) for June in Prince George is 13.8 C. Last month it was 12.3 C, 1.5 degrees cooler than normal.
A total of 80.2 millmetres of rain fell on the city. The average for June is 65.3 mm.
