More snow on the way for Okanagan, Kamloops

A changing weather pattern this evening is going to bring snow to valley bottoms in the Thompson-Okanagan region and winter driving conditions to mountain passes.

Environment Canada meteorologist Lisa Ervin says the mostly sunny conditions today, Feb. 3, will give way to a weather system that is expected to bring snow to Kamloops overnight and then to the Okanagan sometime tomorrow morning.

“We’ve got two centimetres in the forecast for Thursday, and another two to four centimetres for Thursday night as that system continues to move over the southern Interior. Another system expected to arrive Saturday could add another five centimetres of snow to valley bottoms,” Ervin says.

Heavy snow is also expected on mountain passes with 10 to 15 cm forecast for the Coquihalla Highway on the Hope to Merritt section. The Okanagan Connector could see five cm tonight and another five cm tomorrow. Similar amounts are expected with Saturday’s weather system.

Temperatures are expected to remain between 2 and 6 degrees above freezing until Sunday, with a high of 6 Celsius expected Friday under a mix of sun and cloud.

Sunday’s high is expected to reach 0 C in Kamloops and -1 C in the Okanagan.

Normal highs and lows for this time of year in Kamloops are 2 C and -5 C, and 0 C and – 6 C for Vernon, Kelowna and Penticton.

Motorists can monitor DriveBC here for updates on road conditions.

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