Fall will begin on Monday Sept. 22 and, according to Environment Canada, this summer was warmer and significantly drier than usual in the Peace region.
Several heat records were broken during the summer months, and this trend continues as the season closes. Dawson Creek broke a heat record earlier this week, on Sept. 17, when temperatures hit 29 degrees Celsius, which was four degrees higher than the previous record set in 1982.
The Peace region is in an ongoing drought, which has varied in severity over the past years since 2022. The B.C. Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship’s report for this week showed most of the region in a level three drought on their five-point scale.
This means there is “increasing dryness and severity,” according to the ministry. Drought levels are determined based on the amount of precipitation and soil moisture in the area.
Environment Canada’s monitor for the southern Peace, which is in nearby Chetwynd, found temperatures were higher than normal in that part of the region. Precipitation monitoring for the entirety of the region showed a promising start, with 1.6 extra millimetres of rain in June.
“July and August, that’s where things go downhill. For July, were actually drier than normal,” explained Derek Lee, a meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada.
In July, the Peace region saw 68.4 per cent of its typical 76.5 millimetres of precipitation, which is considered “drier than normal” by the federal weather agency.
“August (was) much drier than July. We only saw 13.7 millimetres recorded at Fort St John Airport, and the normal would’ve been 47.8 millimetres,” said Lee. The Peace region received just over a quarter of its standard amount of rainfall last month.
Dawson Creek is feeling the impact of this dryness. The city implemented stage three water conservation measures – which, among other limitations, restrict residents to once-a-week lawn waterings and forbids the filling of hot tubs. During a drought, the province said residents can preserve water by running full loads of laundry, taking shorter showers, and keeping a cool jug of water in the fridge.
