'No precipitation in the forecast for the foreseeable future': Metro Vancouver hits 40 days without rain

Vancouver -

Metro Vancouver hasn’t seen a drop of rain since June 15, and it may not see any for a while yet.

“(There is) no precipitation in the forecast for the foreseeable future,” said Bobby Sekhon, meteorologist for Environment Canada.

“In fact, we just continue to build a ridge of high pressure next week and actually get some hot temperatures by the end of next week, but no rain.”

While summers are typically quite dry in Metro Vancouver, Sekhon explained it’s not usually something that happens this early in the season.

“It’s concerning that we’ve gone so long without rain,” he told CTV News Vancouver.

This is prompting fire concerns for local parks, as tinder dry conditions affect much of the Lower Mainland.

“We haven’t seen this kind of drought for a very long time,” said Tom McComb, park operations supervisor for Metro Vancouver Parks.

“Most of our parks right now are moving into extreme fire hazard,” he said. “We’ve asked all our visitors to be very careful in this kind of environment. Certainly no smoking, which is not allowed in our parks anyway, but to be extra vigilant.”

Barbecues and cooking are also banned in municipal parks in many cities in the region because of the dry conditions.