The prediction was for possible thunderstorms down in the Okanagan, but not up this far. I was outside listening to dozens of loud thunderclaps a moment ago, and they continue unabated. The entire sky is so black (it's still daylight) that I cannot see any lightning. We are getting somewhat nervous now. Packing some things up just in case we got told to get out. Heaven knows I hope it doesn't come to that. Back outside again, but this time I can see the strikes. The rumble carries on for miles from now being very close to us and travelling to the other side of the lake. I won't be surprised if we get a downpour shortly (Yaay!) which hopefully will damp down all the fuel available for forest fires. The wind has come up, which usually goes hand in hand with thunderstorms.
For anyone who wants - you can put this dashboard on your desktop. BC Wildfire Dashboard It is hard to view now and will be for months but, personally, I like to be in the know. ArcGIS Dashboards
Absolutely everyone is sending you our thoughts Keith. I don't know what else to say.... But do be prepared.
Val and I stood out on the deck and I am pleased to say that the rain started up a matter of minutes after the above post. So it has been raining for about four hours now and is still drizzling. Everything here has got good and wet. I don't think I have ever been so happy to see rain before when we needed it most. But perhaps the best thing is that the temperature is down to a mere 24º. Off to bed now and we will see what the morning brings in a few hours.
Good morning D! The rain has continued intermittently throughout the night, still raining steadily now. But the best part is that it is only 20.7º outside now. Feels so nice after the past few days. But, I am still hearing thunder every so often. We now have a combination of smoke sitting close to ground level and clouds above that. I see that thunderstorms are still in our forecast all day today, somewhat unusual. Generally we get these storms in the late afternoon, early evening. But then this past week has been anything but usual. Forecast High today only 30ºC! We are delighted! Tomorrow, full sun and 33ºC.
I've just seen the golf ball sized hail stones and floods in BC on the news and thankfully we have nothing like that here in the UK. But the weather forecast for the next 5 days includes heavy rain, flash floods and gale force winds. So it looks like it's our turn for some weird conditions. D
Val has a sister and other family members in Calgary, where they got the big hail. At least they got some heat relief, but there's worse to come. Their garden was destroyed. We were supposed to be getting lower temperatures, but I see we are still in the 29º to 34º range all week. Plus they are forecasting smoke! Can you believe that! The deteriorating air quality does nothing for us old jokes breathing ability, that's for sure. The haze is everywhere now, and I'm fairly sure we are going to be stuck with it, possibly for several weeks to come. But all these flash floods in the UK are surprising. It is, after all, supposed to be summer. Our weather channel here has been showing clips of flash flooding all over the place, so I imagine that this is going to be the norm in future.
So very sorry to hear this Keith. But more importantly it appears your sister in-law is safe, so that really is all that matters. Gardens can be re built, as you have proved by all your photos. The flash floods are due here on Monday btw. As you say this maybe the norm from now on. I will update this thread if it does get bad. As far as breathing is concerned, a damp handkerchief over the mouth and nose may well be a help. But I'm sure that's teaching you to suck eggs !! Our thoughts are with you and Val. D
They tell us not so young folks to stay inside if we can. The smoke is constantly changing, as you can imagine, so we just need to be mindful of it. We both sincerely hope that you and your maples don't get washed away in one of those flash floods. Are you on high enough ground that you may not be affected?
Thanks Keith, very nice of you to be concerned for my trees after what you are going through there. All should be fine in my location. D
78 new fires in our district in the past two days. We're going backwards... Despite only getting to the mid 30's this afternoon, the heat is still oppressive. Doesn't look like any relief in sight for at least another week. The "kids" that Val went to the coast to help move, went to Regina. Guess which city set an all time high temperature record! Along with a few dozen more.
Let me know if you can figure our weather out. 2:15 p.m. Monday, 23.1ºC under very light rain here. We're loving it! Still very smoky and we have cloud cover, mostly anyway. 197 fires burning, 65 in our district. Next Friday to Monday, more hot days at 30ºC plus. I guess we'll see... Of course the Gov't is letting us know about the smoke, apparently we aren't bright enough to figure that out by ourselves!
Max temperature here today is 17°C . I just checked my diary and in 2019 it was 34°C and last year 30° C, on the same day. 0So I don't think anybody can really figure out anyones weather Keith. It is all so weired. D
Right now we are coincidentally at 17ºC here as well. Headed for 31º this afternoon. More possible thundershowers tomorrow. Don't mind the rain part, but don't much care for the lightning which has proved to be very bad news this year so far.
The rain must be so very welcome for you and Val. The thought of forest fires I hope is diminishing every day for you now. D
We need to remember that we don't usually get the warmest temperatures every year until August, so we're still talking another three, four, five weeks away. The forests just continue to get drier usually until we get the fall rains here. And we have been known to get very dry September's on occasion. So any potential thunderstorms, including rain or not, are usually troublemakers. But yes, the rain, such as it is, is more than welcome.
I think everyone on the forum is watching with fingers and toes crossed for you all there Keith. Let's hope August turns out unseasonably cool for you. D
Latest numbers: 722 Fires year to date, which commences April 1st. 213 active fires 37 new in last two days 69 burning in the Kamloops district, and five of those are major fires, generally out of control. Smoke warnings of course. The forecast is such that we do not expect more thunderstorms now until tomorrow apparently to be brought in from the movement of the upper air from Washington State. Naturally, this is subject to change with no notice whatsoever!
Much more tolerable forecast today! Sun & cloud this morning, cloudy with showers this afternoon and evening, high only 28ºC. That's a nice change. No thunderstorms forecast for today now, they have moved those ahead to tomorrow. Early morning high cloud looks like this facing South, North and West respectively. This one facing South-west showing our smoke cloud about 15 kms away. Wind direction is from the South-west, so we'll be getting the smoke shortly.
As for the current status on the forest fires, it's a total of 743 year to date. Now down to 204 active fires and only 18 in the last two days. But we are up to 73 fires burning in the Kamloops district (as of 5:16 a.m. this morning).
