(STEVE ARSTAD / iNFOnews.ca)

Despite almost endless sunshine in September only Kelowna came close to breaking heat and rainfall records out of the region’s larger cities.

With a mere 2.8 mm of rain falling at Kelowna airport, the city recorded its second driest September on record. During that month 1991 only 0.7 millimetres of rain fell.

With an average daytime temperature of 17.1 Celsius, Kelowna experienced its third warmest September ever. The record was 17.7 C set in 2020.

The normal temperature for September is 15.6 C and the average rainfall is 32.4 mm.

Kamloops came in at 17.7 C for an average daytime temperature last month. While that’s about 2 C higher than normal, it's only the ninth warmest September on record.

While only 13.2 mm of rain fell compared to an average of 29.4 mm, that’s only the 42nd driest September on record.

Kamloops did break two daily high records on Sept. 1 and 2. It hit 35.1 C on Sept. 1, breaking the old record of 33.9 C. The next day it reached 37.9 C, breaking the previous record o 35 C. Both the old records were set in 1950.

Penticton averaged 16.7 C for the month versus a normal of 15.1 C, the 11th warmest September on record.

It received 14.6 mm of rain, which didn’t come anywhere near a record. Normal rainfall for September is 24.6 mm.

Vernon finished with its eighth warmest and driest September on record.

It averaged 16.9 C versus a normal of 13.7 C. It received 7.4 mm of rain versus an average of 37.3 mm

“Most of the precipitation they did receive was from thunderstorms,” Environment Canada meteorologist Derek Lee told iNFOnews.ca. “Thunderstorms can be a little more localized.”

September’s weather was just a prolonged extension of the high pressure system that built in August in the Thompson-Okanagan and is expected to continue for at least the next 10 days.

High pressure systems over the southern Interior bring lots of sunshine and little rain as the moisture is pushed into the northwest of B.C., Lee said.

The warm dry weather will not likely last through the winter.

“We are expecting a La Nina year coming in for B.C. and La Nina years, from what we saw in the last winter and spring, is way cooler weather,” Lee said. “There is the possibility of La Nina affecting Canadian winters so, staring in December, we could see cooler temperatures returning.”

But, Lee cautioned, such long range forecasts are not necessarily all that accurate anymore.

"Our whole weather pattern - a wrench has been thrown into that," he said.

The forecast for this week is almost unbroken sunshine, with a few clouds possible tomorrow, Oct. 4.

Highs are expected to reach 26 C in Kamloops today and tomorrow then drop to 25 C through the rest of the week.

Normal highs for Kamloops are 17 C. Overnight lows are normally 5 C and are forecast to be 10 to 11 C through the week,

The Okanagan is expected to hit 26 C today then drop a degree or two through the week. Today's high is 11 C above normal for this time of year.

Lows are forecast to be in the 10 to 12 C range. Normal lows are 4 C.

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