Winds pick up in Okanagan as Environment Canada warns of outages, damage
The winds have begun to pick up this afternoon in the Central Okanagan, as Environment Canada warns that much of the province will experience strong gusts today. The government agency warns that today, Oct. 10, winds reaching up to 70 km/hr could cause power outages, weak tree branches...
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The winds have begun to pick up this afternoon in the Central Okanagan, as Environment Canada warns that much of the province will experience strong gusts today.
The government agency warns that today, Oct. 10, winds reaching up to 70 km/hr could cause power outages, weak tree branches to snap and damage.
The weather warning also includes Interior highways.
This afternoon in Kelowna's City Park, the wind blew sand off the beaches, scattered branches and knocked over garbage cans.
A power outage due to extreme winds has already impacted 34 homes today on Hubbard Court, Hubbard Road, Frederick Road and Barton Street, according to FortisB.C.
In the South and Central Okanagan, winds are reaching roughly 17 km/hr, according to Windfinder, a website that tracks wind speeds and direction globally. In Kamloops and the North Okanagan, wind speeds ranged from five to 10 km/hr.
"Ahead of the cold front, moderate southwest winds with possible gusts up to 60 km/h are expected Monday morning. As the cold front passes, winds will shift to west or northwest near midday for the central interior and Monday afternoon for the Columbias.
"These northwest winds will be accompanied with stronger wind gusts up to 70 km/h. The strong winds will abate Monday night," according to Environment Canada's weather statement.
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