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Fingers crossed that March will go out like a lamb in the Okanagan and Kamloops because it's going to come in like a lion, as the saying says.

March 1 is the first day of spring, from a meteorological stand point, although in the northern hemisphere spring — the vernal equinox — doesn't arrive until March 20.

“(Meteorological spring) seems early this year,” Environment Canada meteorologist Trevor Smith told iNFOnews.ca. “It’s probably coming in more like a lion this year.”

With luck, a wintery start to the month will end up with March going out on a much warmer “lamb” note. Certainly, it looks like the start of the month will be about 2 Celsius cooler than normal for this time of year.

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Normal temperatures for early March in Kamloops and the Okanagan range from highs around 7 C and lows of about -3 C, so expect some chilly nights for the next little while.

“The pattern looks cool for the next week to 10 days,” Smith said. “We’ve got a cold upper low sitting off the coast. You could call it modified arctic air over the Interior. That doesn’t look like it gets budged out until some time in the later part of next week.”

The forecast shows highs in Kamloops only reaching approximately 7 C this week with overnight lows of -1 C tonight down to -5 C tomorrow night and Friday.

In the Okanagan, the forecast calls for daytime highs around 5 C this week. Overnight lows range from -1 C tonight to -5 C heading into the weekend.

This is the third consecutive winter that water temperatures in the tropics have created a La Nina, or colder, effect.

Earlier in this winter, forecasters had thought that system would break down by now but it seems to be persisting longer than expected, Smith said. As March continues the sun gets warmer and temperatures should moderate.

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While it may seem like February was a particularly cold month, it wasn’t much below normal.

The mean temperature recorded for February in Kamloops was -0.5 C compared to a normal of 0.1 C, close enough to, statistically, be considered normal.

Last year, the mean February temperature in Kamloops was colder at -1 C. In 2019, it was a frigid -8.4 C.

For the entire meteorological winter, from Dec. 1 through Feb. 28, the mean temperature for Kamloops was -2.5 C compared to a normal of -1.8 C so slightly colder but still considered within the normal range.

For Kelowna, February had a mean temperature of -0.2 C just three-tenths of a degree below the normal of 0.1 C. Last year, it was -0.1 C but it was a chilly -7.4C for February 2019.

For the three-month period this winter, Kelowna’s mean temperature was -2.2 C versus a normal of -1.9 C.

It was a dryer than normal winter in Kelowna with only 49.4 mm of water equivalent precipitation recorded, compared to an average of 80.4 mm for the three months.

It was the opposite pattern for Kamloops, which recorded 81.9 mm of water equivalent precipitation compared to a normal of 60 mm.

That, however, is explained by one snowstorm on Feb. 19 that dumped 25.3 mm of water equivalent precipitation on Kamloops, a storm that missed the Okanagan. Other than that one event, precipitation was below average for Kamloops this winter.

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