Last month marked the hottest May ever recorded in BC, fueling what may be the fastest spring snowmelt in the province’s history.
On a typical year, roughly half of the seasonal snowpack on BC’s mountains has melted by June 1st, according to the BC River Forecast Centre.
But a slew of heat waves last month has already melted nearly 85 percent of this year’s snowpack, with higher elevations being hit harder.
Snowpacks in the Skeena-Nass Basin are currently sitting at 69 percent of normal levels, compared to 137 percent at the same time last year.
That same pattern can be seen in the Nechako, Peace, Stikine, and Central Coast Basins, which are all at roughly half of last year’s levels.
With more heat in the forecast, the Centre says that their automated monitoring stations could be snow-free faster than ever before.
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