Hold on to your hats, strong gusts of winds of up to 60 km/h are expected to hit the Okanagan this weekend.
Last night, winds of up to 80 km/h were recorded in Penticton, while winds of 60 km/hr were clocked near the Kelowna International Airport. The severe weather resulted in fallen trees and powerlines as well as thousands of people losing power in both Kelowna and West Kelowna.
“This time of year, often the winds can be very damaging and that’s because there’s a lot of green leaves still on the trees,” said Carmen Hartt, meteorologist, Environment Canada.
“When you get later in fall and the trees are bare, the wind doesn’t pick them up as well. The September period you do get a lot of wind damage.”
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Looking ahead to the weekend, Hartt said winds will begin to pick up again on Friday morning across the Okanagan, followed by a period of showers in the afternoon.
“We are expecting something similar wind to what we saw on (Wednesday night),” said Hartt.
“Expect gusts to be generally 40 km/h, but there is a risk it could be 50 or 60 km/h.”
Saturday and Sunday are expected to taper off with a small chance of showers. Next week’s forecast is expected to be mostly sunny with highs of low to mid-20s, about five degrees higher than average temperatures at this time of year.
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