It appears warmer-than-normal weather in December and January may have prevented early spring flooding in the Cache Creek area this year.

The spring snowmelt (or spring freshet) started when an early-season heat wave hit the province in mid April, and resulted in high streamflow advisories for the Bonaparte River and other rivers in the Cariboo. And the BC River Forecast Centre says the quick rise in those rivers was less intense because of “very warm temperatures” in December and January.

“In other areas of the province, the warm weather in mid-April was likely a positive with respect to freshet-related flood risks as it created an initial pulse of snowmelt derived flows, which may dampen the intensity of peak flows later in the season,” the Centre said in its latest snowpack bulletin released today.

As of May 1, the snowpack in the Lower Thompson, which includes the Cache Creek area, was 23 per cent below normal, compared to being 23 per cent above normal on April 1. Cache Creek had dealt with flooding in four of the past six springs before this year.

Further upstream, the South Thompson snowpack is now 20 per cent below normal as of May 1, compared to normal conditions a month earlier. And the North Thompson is one per cent below normal, versus being three per cent above normal on April 1.

As of May 1, about 11 per cent of the total snowpacks in B.C. had melted already, which is more than double the 4.5 per cent at this time last year. The province says 4.5 per cent is closer to normal for the spring snowmelt by May 1.

As the snowmelt continues in the alpine, the province says some regions of the province may still be susceptible to flooding, but says “near normal” spring freshet conditions are expected on the Thompson River and Nicola Lake.

The province says seasonal temperatures and dry weather will help prevent flooding in the southern Interior for the remainder of the spring.