Next time Nakusp gets a big snowfall, there will be a scientific record of it.
Environment Canada’s weather monitoring made a great leap forward with last week’s visit by EC technician Chris Cowan, part of a team from Environment Canada that comes to Nakusp once a year to service the weather station at the airport.
In addition to sensors for temperature, humidity, pressure and winds as well as a rain gauge, the system will for the first time provide an accurate gauge of snowfall, Cowan said.
“We put in an all-weather precipitation gauge that will sense snowfall or any kind of precipitation. This one works when it’s frozen,” Cowan said in a Thursday evening interview.
“The precipitation falls into a hole and gets weighed – it will provide us with more enhanced information,” Cowan said.
“It’s a little bit of an upgrade for the weather station,” he said.
To see snowfall – in season, of course – weather watchers will be able to go to Environment Canada’s website, www.weatheroffice.gc.ca. A drop-down menu allows websurfers to select a region -- British Columbia -- and then Nakusp, which calls between Muncho Lake and Nanaimo on the menu.