The month of May in Smithers was hot and dry.
Only 8 mm of rain fell in Smithers during the month. Normally, 38.1 mm falls during that month.
However, surprisingly that’s only the 7th driest May that’s ever happened. Seven Mays have been drier, including the driest, which was back in 1956, with only 1.1 mm falling that year in that month.
The last time in the month that Smithers saw a significant rainfall was on May 6.
Meteorologist at Environment and Climate Change Canada Matt Loney said the big story has been the warmth.
“Smithers recorded the warmest May ever,” he said. “The mean temperature was 13.2 degrees. And the normalize is 9.4. So it’s 2.8 degrees above normal for the month.”
A mid-month heat wave also broke two individual day records for warmth.
The mercury hit 29.5 C on May 16 and May 17 in Smithers, breaking previous records of 26.7 C from May 16, 2006 and 27.4 C from May 17, 1984.
Across the region, it was also warmer and drier than normal.
In Prince Rupert, 87 mm fell. The normal is 137.6 mm.
The mean temperature for May was 11.1 degrees, normally it is 9 degrees.
“That was the fifth warmest in Prince Rupert’s history,” said Loney.
Terrace saw 26.6 mm of rain fall, the normal is 56.4. It was the 23rd driest May on record. The mean temperature was 13.8 degrees,the normal is 10.6 which is 3.2 degrees above normal. That makes it the fourth warmest May for Terrace.
Loney said the next month looks similar for the entire region.
“The outlook for June, it looks like a continuation essentially of what May has brought,” he said. “So we’re looking at warmer than normal and what appears to be near or below normal precipitation, so it doesn’t look like the pattern is breaking anytime soon.”
READ MORE: Smithers sees record breaking hot days this week
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