'Very blustery': Kamloops broke a rainfall record on the weekend

Heavy rain, thunder and lightning, and gusty winds accompanied the severe storm cells that tracked across the Southern Interior this past weekend, but when it came to rain, Kamloops received a record amount. Kamloops reached a new rainfall record with a total of 29.4 millimetres of precipitation on Friday, Aug. 23. The previous record was 18.5 mm in 2023 beating last year's rainfall amount by more than 10 mm. “It was a very blustery, thunderstormy afternoon and evening for sure,” Environment Canada meteorologist Chris Doyle told iNFOnews today, Aug. 26. The whole Thompson-Okanagan region got heavy rain but he said Kamloops got the most. An upper low developed off the coast of Oregon before moving through Washington state and up into the Thompson-Okanagan region bringing torrential downpours and dangerous winds before moving east into Alberta. READ MORE: 'Dangerous': Vernon intersection where teen was killed scares many https://infotel.ca/inwheels/dangerous-vernon-intersection-where-teen-was-killed-scares-many/it106295 Kelowna recorded 13.6 mm of precipitation of Friday, Vernon say 5.7 mm and Penticton only got 1 mm. Osoyoos got 15.8 mm, which was a new daily record. Due to the high wind, power outages impacted many Kamloops residents. Wind recorded in the area of the Kamloops airport showed the strongest gusts reached about 93 km/h. “Kamloops took the cake for that storm on Friday afternoon, that’s for sure,” Doyle said. Jim Moroz, manager for facilities and emergency response for Kamloops airport, confirms two arrivals that were set to land in Kamloops around 5 p.m. on Friday during the storm were not able to touch ground because of the weather. The planes instead had to divert back to their original take off point in Vancouver. No departures flights were scheduled during the storm. READ MORE: Jessie Simpson's mom publishing book about son's near fatal attack https://infotel.ca/newsitem/jessie-simpsons-mom-publishing-book-about-sons-near-fatal-attack/it106264 Kamloops also experienced minor rockslides due to the rain and wind but the effects were not overwhelmingly damaging. The amount of rain the Thompson-Okanagan got over the weekend is expected to be beneficial in subduing wildfires in the area. Holdover fires — when a tree is wet and gets struck by lightning but does not ignite right away due to the moisture — are possibilities in storms like the one the Thompson-Okanagan experienced. To contact a reporter for this story, email Bailey Zimmer mailto:bzimmer@infonews.ca  or call 250-808-0143 or email the editor mailto:news@infonews.ca . You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom mailto:tips@infonews.ca  and be entered to win a monthly prize draw. We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. SUBSCRIBE to our awesome newsletter here https://infotel.ca/newsletter .