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Jennifer Stahn
UPDATE: Severe thunderstorm watch ends
UPDATE: A severe thunderstorm watch for the Okanagan, South Thompson and Nicola areas has been lifted. Environment Canada states the conditions required to produce severe weather no longer apply. THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - Torrential rains, strong winds and hail are all possible as an unstable airmass moves over the region. Environment Canada has again issued a severe...
RCMP seek help finding missing teenage girl
KELOWNA - Starr Harvey has not been seen since last Thursday and RCMP are now asking for help in locating the Kelowna woman. Harvey was last seen Aug. 14 and while police have followed up on several leads and possible sightings she remains missing. The 15-year-old girl is described as First Nations, 5’5”, 128 lbs...
Shed goes up in flames
KELOWNA - A shed was destroyed by fire early this morning but rescue crews were able to keep the flames from spreading to the surrounding houses. The Kelowna Fire Department responded to a shed fire at 610 Peck Road just after 1 a.m. Tuesday and were able to extinguish the fire quickly before it could...
Take a bite out of the grasshopper population
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - With the abundance of grasshoppers in our yards and parks right now it’s the perfect time to try a new recipe. The leaping insects are common cuisine in many countries so get your nets and mason jars and get to catching some of these tiny treats. They can be baked, deep fried and...
Grasshoppers take over the Interior
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - While they are an important food source in parts of Africa the overwhelming number of grasshoppers gracing our yards, parks and roads have not been nearly as welcome in the Southern Interior. Karla Hoffman, Integrated Pest Management Coordinator for Kamloops says while the city itself is not dealing with the grasshoppers as a...
UPDATE: Severe thunderstorm watch ended
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - UPDATE: 8:49 p.m., Aug. 14 The severe thunderstorm watch for the South and North Thompson and Nicola regions has ended. Short-lived storms passed through the region late afternoon and early evening, but no major damage has been reported. UPDATE: 6:07 p.m., Aug. 14 The severe thunderstorm warning has been downgraded back down to...
Salmon run countdown begins
KAMLOOPS - People are already making plans for the return of millions of sockeye salmon to Adams River this fall, including the Adams River Salmon Society, B.C. Parks and Tourism Kamloops. Roderick Haig-Brown Provincial Park is undergoing upgrades, forcing the closure of the day-use area and main parking lot adjacent to the entrance at the...
UPDATE: Severe thunderstorm watch ended, again
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - For the second day in a row the risk of severe thunderstorms in the Interior passed before any damage could be done. Much of the region received at least some rain overnight or this morning. While it stopped by mid-morning, a 30-40 per cent chance of showers remains tonight. Environment Canada issued the...
UPDATE: Smoky skies advisory ends
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - After more than a week under a smoky sky advisory, the smoke has finally cleared. There have been more than 1,100 wildfires this year and more than 252,000 hectares have burned. Six of those fires have been more than 10,000 ha in size with the largest reaching more than 88,000 ha. Smoke from...
UPDATE: Severe thunderstorm watch ended
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - A system threatening to bring strong winds and heavy rain to the region this afternoon is no longer a concern according to Environment Canada. Meteorologists warned the system, which was developing over Washington, could produce wind gusts in excess of 70 kilometres per hour and dump 15 millimetres of rain in a short...
Perseids peak tonight
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - A nearly full moon may make it difficult to see the full impact of the Perseids meteor shower tonight, but one of the best meteor showers of the year is still worth staying up for. The Perseids are visible from July 17 through Aug. 24 and produce longer trails and fireballs as an...
Second supermoon lights up the sky
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - Full moons often catch a photographers eye but supermoons seem to bring out the photographer in everyone. Sunday night the second of three consecutive supermoons filled the sky. A supermoon also made an appearance in July and another is set for Sept. 9. A supermoon occurs when the full moon is about 50,000...
Heat, rain in forecast
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - Have both your sunscreen and umbrella on standby, we are expecting two more days of high heat but then we are heading to below normal temperatures and rain later in the week. Monday we are looking at temperatures of 34 to 36 Celsius across the region and while Tuesday's temperatures for most of...
VIDEO: Smith Creek fire from above and by the numbers
KELOWNA - Take a guess: How much water have fire crews dropped on the Smith Creek fire over the past week and a half? Would you believe more than 1.2 million litres? As of Monday morning helicopters had flown more than 100 hours, skimmers had dropped more than 300 loads of water and foam and...
Meteor shower to peak early next week
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - Grab a date, a blanket and a bottle of wine and prepare to spend a night gazing up at the sky during the peak of a month-long meteor shower early next week. The Delta Aquarids meteor shower runs annually from July 12 to Aug. 23 and this year the peak will occur in...
UPDATE: Power restored after storm cut off thousands of residents
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - Power has been restored to most customers in the Thompson-Okanagan following widespread outages affecting over 16,000 customers at their peak. Sabrina Locicero with B.C. Hydro says power in the Thompson-Okanagan and Shuswap regions is back on for the vast majority of customers. Only ten customers remained without power as of Friday morning. B.C. Hydro...
Mother Nature bringing the heat
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - This week brought stormy skies but next week will once again bring the heat as temperatures are set to soar into the mid-30s. “The good news is it’s over,” Environment Canada Meteorologist Doug Lundquist says of the heavy rains and thunderstorms that passed through this week. “And then the ridge builds next week...
Snow greets Ironman Triathletes in Whistler
WHISTLER - Residents and tourists woke to snow in Whistler Thursday morning after a cool, wet system moved through overnight. The snow came just in time for the Ironman Triathlon, which kicks off this weekend, though it will likely be gone before the athletes compete on Sunday. More rain and cool temperatures are expected through...
Intense storm dropped record rain at rapid rate
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - Several rainfall records were broken Wednesday but a local meteorologist says it is the rate of the rainfall that is the big story. “A record rain doesn’t really tell the story, the real story is the speed which it came out of the clouds,” Doug Lundquist of Environment Canada says. “You can have...
UPDATE: Severe thunderstorm warnings end
UPDATE: A severe thunderstorm warning reissued for the Okanagan Valley has now ended. Twice today, Environment Canada has warned the storms could produce strong wind gusts, dime to nickel sized hail and heavy rain. All weather warnings have now ended for the South Thompson, Nicola, Shuswap and North Thompson regions that were under warnings earlier...
Campfire ban lifted in Clearwater area
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - If you want to have a fire while camping this weekend you may be fighting off the masses heading north to the Clearwater region thanks to the campfire ban being rescinded as of noon Wednesday for that fire zone. B.C. Wildfire is now allowing campfires in the area thanks to rain reducing the...
UPDATE: Heavy rains, thunderstorms in forecast
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - As much as 50 millimetres of rain could fall over the next two days as a low pressure system moving through southern B.C. is set to produce heavy showers and thunderstorms. Environment Canada issued a special weather statement this morning noting the potential for locally heavy rainfall of 25-50 mm with thunderstorms, which...
Cooler, wet forecast could help Thompson-Okanagan fire crews
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - A little help is in the forecast for fire crews this week as Mother Nature dials down the temperatures and throws in a little rain. While temperatures will be near normal (26-29 Celsius) across the region for the next two days we can also expect to see rain today with a 40 per...
Vet opens heart, clinic to evacuated pets
WEST KELOWNA - Evacuations can be a high stress situtation but one local vet is trying to make it easier on people and their pets by offering free kennelling for all pets displaced by the wildfire burning in West Kelowna right now. Dr. Moshe Oz , a vet with Rose Valley Veterinary Clinic, says they’ve...