The vines at Tantalus Vineyards in Kelowna, B.C., are in restoration mode after final yr’s devastating chilly snap.
“A respite yr, which we’re in up to now, could be great for these vines to heal, to get better and to develop once more correctly,” mentioned Dave Paterson, the winemaker at Tantalus Vineyards in Kelowna.
It was this week final yr when in a single day temperatures plunged to catastrophic lows of – 30 C, wiping out total grape crops within the Okanagan.
“The disaster begins across the – 17, -18 mark and if we get all the way down to – 27, – 30 mark once more then all bets are off,” Paterson informed World Information.
Up to now, this winter season has been a light one with the coldest low recorded the morning of Jan. 14 at – 3.9 C, in comparison with a median low of – 8 for this time of yr.
“Fingers crossed proper now that the identical climate that we now have had the final few months continues,” Paterson mentioned.
As for daytime highs, these too are above common.
“This winter we now have seen temperatures about 2.8 levels hotter than regular in Kelowna,” mentioned World Information meteorologist Peter Quinlan.
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“Final winter, as soon as the season was fully executed, we noticed temperatures two levels hotter than regular. That doesn’t imply we will’t have chilly snaps like we had final January, the place we had a variety of days within the – 20s all day lengthy.”
However it’s not simply milder temperatures that the Okanagan area is experiencing — there’s been much less snow, too.
In Kelowna, snow-removal automobiles have been sitting idle and barely deployed to clear snow.
“We noticed a few small occasions in direction of the tip of 2024 and as we stand right here in January, we haven’t one flake that required a full response,” mentioned Geert Bos, division supervisor of infrastructure operations for the Metropolis of Kelowna. “So it’s been fairly minimal.”
Many native residents have been making the most of the milder-than-normal situations by spending extra time exterior than winters previous.
“Lots of people endure from cabin fever this time of yr,” mentioned Kelowna resident James Chester. “With it being hotter it’s nice to get exterior.”
One other Kelowna resident, Khoa Nguyen, mentioned he’s happy that ski resorts are getting good quantities of snow whereas the valley backside is getting spared.
We’ve the snow and nice snowboarding up high after which down right here we will go on trip bikes, go on hikes and stuff,” mentioned Nguyen. “We’ve the very best of each worlds.”
In response to Quinlan, the Okanagan will expertise a cooldown subsequent week, with highs anticipated to dip down into the minus-single-digit vary and lows doubtlessly into the minus double digits.
© 2025 World Information, a division of Corus Leisure Inc.
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