Okanagan snowpack held steady through February

There was little change to the local snowpack through February of this year.

The River Forecast Centre reported the Okanagan’s snowpack was at 82 per cent of normal as of March 1.

While that was still below average, it was little changed from the 84 per cent of normal recorded on Feb. 1.

It also noted that the Okanagan was one of the regions forecasted to have seasonal volume runoffs of between 45 and 60 per cent in March, or well below normal inflows.

Other are basins saw snowpacks remain below average but relatively high, including Lower Thompson (87 per cent), Boundary (86 per cent), North and South Thompson (78 per cent), and Upper Columbia (73 per cent).

The provincial snowpack, meanwhile, saw improvements through the second month of 2025.

The River Forecast Centre said B.C’s snowpack was at 73 per cent of normal as of March 1, up from the 72 per cent recorded a month prior.

The snowpack was also higher than the 66 per cent of normal recorded throughout B.C. on March 1, 2024.

Though up on a monthly and annual basis, and with the chance of another four to eight weeks remaining in the snow accumulation season and the chance of heavy precipitation during the freshet season, the provincial agency said the ower than normal snowpacks indicated a reduced chance of seasonal flood hazards this spring.

However, with the low snowpack levels there were increased concerns about droughts in the summer, especially in areas where the snowpack levels were especially low, such as the Similkameen region where the snowpack was at 60 per cent of normal.