September a wetter and warmer month

September was a warmer and wetter month on average.

According to weather data from Environment Canada, John Ede, weather observer at Powell River Airport weather station, said Powell River’s monthly average temperature of 15.1° Celsius was about one degree warmer than usual.

Over the month, Powell River received 125.5 millimetres of rain, well over the normal monthly average of 55.5 millimetres.

“We had a couple of days there with high rainfall,” he said. “I think we’re going to see a lot more of these strong rains and wind coming up and then disappearing.”

Ede said that on one evening alone over 28 millimetres of rain was recorded.

Accordingly, the number of hours of sunshine was below monthly averages with almost 170 hours of sunshine logged, well under the average 206 hours.

“It makes sense, having three weeks of rain,” he said, adding that the number of storms last month was unusual. “We normally get lightning and thunderstorms, but not the way we’ve been getting them.”

In 2012, the same storms did not start until the middle of October. In September 2012, an unusually dry September for Powell River, only 15.6 millimetres of rain fell and 251.8 hours of sunshine were recorded.