Crews remove a Brocklehurst Park tree damaged in the wind storm Sunday.
(JENNIFER STAHN / iNFOnews.ca)
July 15, 2013 - 2:27 PM
KAMLOOPS – It was a brief storm caused by a cold front coming into the area, but it was enough to cause branches and trees around the city to come tumbling down as wind gusts nearing 70 km/h hit the city yesterday evening.
Environment Canada spokesperson Doug Lundquist says with higher wind gusts boats can be affected and branches start to fall off trees, but the short-lived system is already on the way out and our temperatures are set to climb back into the mid 30s by the weekend.
“It was mostly about the cold front, a cold, dense air and not as much about thunderstorms.” Lundquist says about the system that brought only 0.8 mm of rain to the airport, “It basically affected us for 24 hours but we're climbing out of it, we're already recovering.”
While branches and leaves fell from trees around the city a single tree in Brocklehurst was the worst hit on city property. Parks employees were on scene Monday to remove a tree damaged in the high winds Sunday.
The tree, located in the green space adjacent to Brock Recreation Centre, had previously been cleared out in the middle, leaving the tree to act like a kite, catching the wind and snapping in the wind gusts. In little over an hour most of the branches had been removed and crews were preparing to chip the branches. Staff said it was the only tree needing to be removed following the storm.
Trees on private property also faced thinning by Mother Nature. Several trucks could be seen making their way to the Cinnamon Ridge Compost Facility Monday morning with loads of branches and green leaves.
Three boaters Sunday were also taken by surprise as the storm left them stranded in Kamloops Lake. One swam to shore for help after the boat suffered engine problems.
The cold front was just a “sharp little cold front” according to Lundquist, who says temperatures are expected to reach 35 C by Saturday throughout the southern Interior.
“For all of southwest interior, (we are) expecting to get back into the 30s tomorrow,” Lundquist notes before adding, “it looks really good for the weekend.”
To contact a reporter for this story, email jstahn@infotelnews.ca, call (250)819-3723 or tweet @JennStahn.
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News from © iNFOnews, 2013