Singin' in the rain: soggy weekend forecast for outdoor summer festivals

The summer festival season is finally here, but the unseasonably rainy weather is causing concern about attendance at several outdoor fetes happening this weekend.

Khatsahlano Street Party, and, ironically, the Carnaval del Sol are just two of the outdoor parties that will likely be a little soggy this weekend. The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra will also play Deer Lake in Burnaby.

Environment Canada says there is a 70 per cent chance of rain on Saturday and a 30 per cent chance on Sunday. The long stretch of wet weather is expected to continue through most of next week. But festival organizers, who have been planning their events for the better part of a year, are determined to go ahead with plans even in a downpour.

Organizers of the Khatsahlano festival, for example, are ready to hand out 100 umbrellas and ponchos to spectators watching the various stage shows at 4th and Yew Street on Saturday.

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A lone pedestrian walks past the Telus Science World attraction on False Creek Thursday July 7, 2016.

A few years ago there was a sheet of rain and hail but participants were still out dancing under a plume of colourful umbrellas, Murillo said.

“Nothing can stop us. We are ready for people to have an amazing time,” said Murillo, The festival, which runs Saturday and Sunday in Vancouver, will have a Brazilian component this year in honour of the Olympic Games in Rio. And on Saturday at 11:30 a.m. there’s a rock band for kids playing from Argentina.

Jane McFadden, executive director of the West 4th Avenue Business Association, says a drizzle is good for some of the businesses other than restaurants along 4th because when it’s hot people tend to sit on patios drinking beer all afternoon.

The free VSO Deer Lake concert, scheduled for 7 p.m. on Sunday, will also go ahead in the rain. The concert will be a mixture of classical music and movie theme tunes such as Star Trek and Star Wars. Attendees are encouraged to bring a brolly or poncho in the likely event of rain.

Environment Canada meteorologist Matt MacDonald said it looks like the cold-low pattern of rainy weather is slow to move, and will persist until at least the second half of July. But he added that it’s too early to predict whether the amount of rainfall will break the record for the month.

He said although it feels like an unusually rainy summer so far, the amount of precipitation was slightly below average last month.

In June, the amount of rainfall at YVR was 43.2 millimetres, compared with an average of 53.8 millimetres. The amount was in stark contrast to last year when the agency recorded June as the fourth driest month on record with only 11 millimetres of rain.

“July is usually the driest month of the summer … this springlike pattern is abnormal for summertime.”

He said the good news is that Metro Vancouver likely won’t experience drought conditions like last summer, which led to Stage 4 water restrictions and a devastating wildfire season.

At this time last year, the majority of B.C. was under an extreme fire danger rating. But as of Thursday, there were only 49 fires burning in the province, compared with 185 at the same time last year, and much of B.C. is at a danger rating of low or very low.

ticrawford@postmedia.com

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