Victoria has had 2.7 mm of rain this month. The usual is 96.
October is normally the island's fourth-wettest month, and a ridge of high pressure has been shoving the fall storms up toward the Yukon instead.
The rain gauge at Victoria International Airport read 2.7 millimetres as of October 19. For the whole month, the airport averages 96.1. That's three per cent of normal, in a month that usually ranks fourth-wettest of the year on the Island.
UVic's station has logged 4.7 mm against an average of 77.2. Gonzales sat at 9.6 against 85.4. Up-Island is no wetter: Port Alberni, which normally soaks up 214.9 mm in October, had seen 11.5.
The Weather Network blames a ridge of high pressure parked over the northeastern Pacific, a blocking pattern steering the usual fall storms toward the Yukon and Alaska. Victoria has caught 57 per cent of its average precipitation for the year so far.
Some light rain was expected over the weekend, with long-range models hinting at a strong low-pressure system offshore. Back in September, the province was already urging people to keep conserving water through fall and winter, warning that drought conditions in parts of B.C. could stretch into 2027 and that depleted soils will drink up the first rains before rivers and reservoirs see any benefit.
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