The Sunshine Coast’s Edwards Lake and Chapman Creek snowpacks remain at record lows as of the March 1 provincial update.
Chapman Creek is at 37 per cent of normal snow water equivalent and Edwards Lake is at 23 per cent of normal, said the BC River Forecast Centre’s snow survey and water supply bulletin released last week. Last month’s update had the Chapman Creek watershed at 43 per cent of normal.
Provincially, the snowpack is averaging 66 per cent of normal whereas at this time last year, it was at 91 per cent of normal. The average snow water equivalent in the South Coast region is 40 per cent of normal.
“Dry conditions persisted through February until a stormy pattern brought the most significant snowfall of the season in the final week,” the update explained. While below normal freshet flood hazard is expected, the drought hazard is “significantly elevated” for the spring and summer.
The March 1 update is the "penultimate indicator of the snow accumulation season," the bulletin said. Peak snowpack is generally mid-April, with 80 per cent of the annual snowpack generally accumulating by early March.
With El Nino conditions persisting, the above seasonal temperatures and below normal snowpack are expected to continue, said the update.
With this news fresh, the Sunshine Coast Regional District’s general manager of infrastructure services, Remko Rosenboom, will give the year’s first water supply update at the SCRD’s committee of the whole, beginning at 9:30 a.m. Thursday, March 14, at the district’s Field Road office and online.
– With files from Connie Jordison
