In a year of chaos, Mother Nature was, mercifully, normal

According to the forecast, unusually warm weather is set to continue in Kamloops.

And, with each warm day, the chances of a colder-than-average winter continue to wane as the region dashes La Nina weather patterns.

“The chance of getting any sort of bad winter is dwindling with every day of warmth,” said Doug Lundquist, a warning preparedness meteorologist at Environment Canada.

Lundquist said the next 10 days or so will come with temperatures above average, even during this La Nina year.

“La Nina usually means a colder-than-average winter. By the 15th of January, we’re halfway through winter, so the first half is coming out very much on the mild side,” he said.

And, although long-range forecast models still call for cold, Lundquist said they continue to be adjusted with continued warm weather.

The forecast continues a trend seen in December, with the average temperature coming in at 0.7 degrees Celsius, a solid three degrees above the average of -2.7 C.

The month was also wetter than average, with 37 millimetres of precipitation falling, compared to the normal average for the month of 25 mm.

But December’s wonky weather contributed to an almost perfectly average year, as far as weather is concerned.

Lundquist said Kamloops came out of 2020 almost dead-on average in temperature and precipitation, matching the average temperature of 9.3 C and landing just one millimetre above its usual precipitation, with 289 millimetres falling in 2020.

“So we really lucked that out. And we needed that in 2020. We needed a year with Mother Nature being nice to us,” he said.

Lundquist said although the year came out average, a few weather events stuck out to him, including a colder than usual spring and an earlier snowfall in October.