Water levels Shuswap Lake are higher this November than any in the past 13 years according to Shuswaplakewatch.com.
Water levels peaked at approximately 346.5-metres above sea level in November, which is very high compared to last year with a high of approximately 345.4-m above sea level. November 2015 was similar to the 13-year average.
Bernhard Kramer runs Shuswap Lake Watch and has been taking lake level measurements at the public beach in Sicamous for over 20 years.
He takes measurements by manually measuring from a marker on the dock at the beach to the water’s surface.
Environment Canada meteorologist Ross Macdonald says Salmon Arm recorded less precipitation than average in November with 60-mm of precipitation compared to an average 85-mm.
Kramer said 2005 was another year when the lake levels in November were exceptionally high.
Macdonald says the high lake levels may have more to do with temperature than precipitation.
“One thing I was thinking, and this is just a hypothesis on my end, but with the warm weather all that snow that may have fallen earlier is not going to stick around too long when we do have those warm temperatures,” he said.
Macdonald said temperatures in November were unseasonably warm across southern B.C. with stations in Vernon and Kelowna recording their warmest November on record.
Salmon Arm had an average temperature of 6.1 degrees in November, which is very warm compared to the average of 0.6 degrees.
“Given that the stations around it were some of the warmest if not the warmest Novembers on record, you can probably infer that Salmon Arm is in the same boat,” Macdonald said.