The latest data on snowpack levels has officials in B.C. thinking about the risk of spring flooding in southern B.C.

Head of the River Forecast Centre Dave Campbell says the province-wide snowpack was up to 10 per cent above normal on Feb. 1.

That’s an increase of 26 per cent from a month earlier.

The highest snowpack value in the province is the Skagit watershed, east of Hope, which is 36 per cent above normal. The next-closest is the South Thompson at 30 per cent above normal, followed by the Okanagan at 29 per cent above normal.

The North Thompson snowpack, meanwhile, is at 19 per cent above normal.

“Around about 120 per cent or normal is where we start to get more concerned about the potential for increased flood risk, and so we really are at that, or near that, threshold right now through the region. So I think it’s not too early to be concerned, and to be looking at any of those kind of early season preparations that might be appropriate, and to start to pay a bit of attention to that,” Campbell says.

Despite that situation on Feb. 1, Campbell doesn’t expect heavy snowfall across the southern Interior last week to have a significant impact in the grand scheme of things in the Kamloops area, saying snowpack values this morning are likely similar to Feb 1.

“We’ve been looking at the automated stations. We’ve seen snow develop over the past eight days, but it’s been – through the Thompson regions anyways – probably at a similar rate that we normally expect.”

Campbell says the outlook for the rest of winter is favoring cooler weather, and that snowpack levels will increase at a higher-than-normal rate.