When it rains, it pours; an old adage that proved true this weekend.
A series of small but powerful storm cells tore through the Shuswap, swamping Sturgis North and knocking out power along the way.
“We had multiple outages in Salmon Arm over the weekend due to localized windstorms that were associated with thunderstorm activity,” said BC Hydro community relations rep Gene Bryant.
The largest outage was Saturday afternoon, affecting more than 3,300 customers. In many cases, power was not restored until approximately 1 a.m. Sunday.
Another intense storm Sunday night resulted in multiple outages again, mostly caused by branches and trees hitting power lines.
“This was due to intense local wind associated with thunderstorms,” said Bryant Monday. “There seemed to be a lot more small, five-customer outages, where Saturday’s was one large feeder outage.”
While the power outages were wind-driven, lightning did ignite one fire in Albas Park near Seymour Arm on Sunday. Reported at 11:21 a.m. Monday, July 18 an initial attack crew quickly extinguished the spot-sized fire.
“You can blame it on a large upper trough that’s hanging over the Shuswap,” said Environment Canada forecaster John McIntyre on Monday, explaining why summer activities are proving to be a bit of a wash-out.
Saturday’s storm roared up the Okanagan Valley out of Washington, accompanied by strong cells that featured heavy downpours. But McIntyre says the low pressure area had actually weakened by the time reached the Shuswap.
“This has been very funny spring and summer. The Interior is usually hot and dry, but we haven’t got there yet,” he said, noting with a laugh that summer should indeed arrive soon. “And I’ll keep saying that until the leaves fall off the trees.”