Low snowpack levels suggest B.C. needs a wet and cool June

Snowpack levels in B.C. are falling below the usual amounts expected for this time of the year. What does that mean for summer water restrictions?

The latest survey of snowpacks from weather stations all over British Columbia reveals levels are 39 per cent below normal.

That means conditions throughout the province are only slightly better than 2024, which was the worst on record since the 1970s.

“It’s not great. It’s quite low compared to average,” said Coree Tull of the BC Watershed Security Coalition.

“When we are losing our snowpack at the rate that we are right now, or if we aren’t accumulating it like we have been in the past, we just don’t have the savings anymore to be able to get us through the summer and into the fall,” she said.

Some of the hardest hit areas include Vancouver Island, the Central Coast and East Kootenay.

When snowpacks melt, they provide fresh water for rivers and streams during hot and dry summer months, which helps fish thrive and generate hydro. They also supply reservoirs with fresh drinking water.

“The concern is that if we get another heat dome like we had a few years ago or another prolonged drought, which we’re seeing more and more of as our climate warms, things could get bad,” said Aaron Hill of the Watershed Watch Salmon Society.

Lower than average snowpacks are becoming a trend, causing much concern for analysists who argue governments should be investing money into finding ways to capture more precipitation in the colder and wetter months.

Analysists are also suggesting water use be tracked, and users should be charged for the amount of water consumed.

That said, Hill said it is too soon in the season to predict just how detrimental the current conditions will be on this summer’s water supply.

“It is too early to set our hair on fire,” said Hill, of the current conditions.

“We could have a decent amount of rain over the next couple of months and low temperatures, and we could be okay,” he said.