Why Does Boundary Country Have Great Weather?

In Canada, the weather is a constant topic of discussion. We love to complain about the weather, mostly, and for much of Canada this is reasonable lamentation: Our beautiful country’s weather is often abysmal for signifiant portions of the year.

Far North and the Prairies are too cold and snowy for most. The “Wet Coast” of Vancouver is a sopping rainforest—mild, temperature-wise, but plagued by grey skies and year-round precipitation. Provinces on other side of the nation suffer through windy winters only to endure hot, humid summers.

As someone who has travelled through much of Canada, and whose lifestyle is largely outdoors, I’ve found some of the country’s consistently best weather to be right here in Boundary Country. But what makes it so?

Much of the Boundary lies within the “Ponderosa Pine Zone” in British Columbia, which is a unique and important ecosystem that covers just 0.4% of the province—primarily a “narrow band” of dry valleys along the Similkameen and Kettle rivers of the Southern Interior.

Notably, this bio-geo-climatic zone is the driest forested area in BC, featuring long summers and dry winters.

“The PP is the driest and, in summer, the warmest forested zone in British Columbia,” reads Ecosystems of British Columbia, a Special Report for the Province from 1991. “Winters are cool with light snow cover.”

Because Ponderosa can endure low-water situations so well, these mighty sentinels dominate the arid climate, which is a majestic mosaic of grassland, shrub-steppe, and “savannah-like stands.”

“Stands are often very open and parklike with a ponderosa pine canopy and an understory dominated by bluebunch wheatgrass,” according to Ecosystems. The Ponderosa pine is accompanied in moister sites by populations of Douglas-fir, Trembling aspen, and both water and paper birch trees.

While humans may not be quite as adapted to drought as Ponderosa, we do appreciate long summers and dry winters. As do other animals—such as bighorn sheep, mountain elk, and both mule and white-tailed deer—which all populate the area.

Wildlife is attracted to the Ponderosa Pine Zone because of “short winters with low snowfall, a strategic location between the Great Basin to the south and the boreal forests to the north, and a great diversity of vegetation types.”

A “rich and varied collection of habitat niches results from the mosaic of grasslands and dry forest, the juxtaposition of wetlands and dry shrub-steppe, and the abundance of rugged cliffs and broken rock,” the special report reads.

Overall, living in the Ponderosa Pine Zone brings a different perspective on weather—one that often stands in contrast to Canada’s typically unforgiving climate. Season after season, the Boundary displays its majesty for all to witness.