The March 1 snow survey is now complete. Data from 158 snow courses and 58 snow pillows around the province, with 22 out of province sampling locations and climate data from Environment Canada, have been used to form the basis for the following reports.

Snowpack
Following the very heavy snowfall throughout parts of BC in January, February brought near normal to slightly below normal snow accumulations. Overall snow water conditions are near normal across Vancouver Island and the South Coast, the North and South Thompson, the Columbia, the Kootenay and the Okanagan. The Okanagan basin has a snow water index of 110% of normal, the highest index value measured in the province at March 1. The Similkameen and Nicola basins have about 80% of normal March 1 snow water.

Northern BC remains with below normal snowpacks. The Upper Fraser basin is only 75% of normal, a slight increase from 71% at February 1st. The Peace River basin is currently 77% of normal and the Skeena is 79%. Both of these are decreases from their February 1st values.

Weather

Precipitation during February was slightly below normal (generally 65-90%) for most of BC, with a few exceptions. Revelstoke, in the Columbia basin, recorded well above normal precipitation for the month, and Kelowna, Cranbrook and Dease Lake all recorded near normal precipitation. Vancouver and Nanaimo both recorded only about one-half of normal precipitation. Temperatures across most of the province were near seasonal averages.

Outlook
By March 1, on average, greater than 80% of the peak snowpack for the year has accumulated. Snow conditions in central, southern and coastal BC are near normal, and, even if below normal precipitation should occur for the remainder of the winter, peak snow packs and spring snow melt runoff will be near normal. Snow conditions are such that there are no water-supply concerns for the Okanagan, Kootenay, Similkameen and Thompson basins, or for Vancouver Island and the South Coast.

The well developed snowpack on Vancouver Island and the South Coast is welcome, following three consecutive years of well below normal snow conditions, and bodes well for abundant late spring and summer water supply. Currently, only the Upper Fraser, Skeena and Peace remain with significantly below normal snow conditions, and the likelihood of experiencing well below normal freshet runoff.

The near normal snow conditions in the Thompson, Kootenay and Columbia basins now has us considering the potential for high freshet flows during melt in May and June. Whether or not high flows occurs depends on how much additional snow accumulates for the remainder of March and April, and the weather conditions during spring melt in May and June.