So I wake up this morning at 5:30 to get ready for work, I glance out my front window and there is a bunch of white stuff all over the place!

What!?

Here they were calling for 10-20mm of rain overnight last night and instead we get a dump of wet and nasty slush all over the place. Probably about 3cm worth in spots here at Alberniweather.

Be careful driving on Highway 4 today. I just went to drivebc and they are reporting Compact Snow with Slippery sections all the way from Tofino/Ucluelet Junction to Qualicum junction.

This should be the last we see of the white stuff. And later today we should also get a good blast of wind everywhere but in Port Alberni. On my drive home Wed. Afternoon Mr. Madryga said there was a gust of wind at Sartina Island off Cape Scott of 145kph. That’s Cat 2 hurricane strength! Yeeha.

Have fun in the snow all. Stay warm. We should warm up to more seasonal temperatures by Sunday.

So you might have noticed in the forecast for next week there is mention of the whitestuff!

Mark Madryga was mentioning it on his forecast Thursday morning as well and he seemed quite adamant that “higher elevations” could receive a bit of snow on Monday.

What do you think? Are we in for a big dump! Is this going to be our Snowmageaddon? Are we going to give up our record warm January and February and have a Decembery-March?

Can this winter get any more abnormal?

Come on, admit it. You’re secretly wishing for it aren’t you ;)
Welcome to Vancouver, Need an Umbrella? :D

UPDATE: This is getting a little more serious now. As of this morning (Monday) the GFS has increased its estimate up to 210mm Thursday through Sunday. With the largest amounts coming Friday night and Sunday morning. The probability of strong winds has also increased particularly for all of Saturday but also on Thursday night . Saturday is still 6 days away, so this forecast could still change but at this point it is pretty ugly.

On the bright side, the temperatures aren’t forecast to be above 8 degrees. So maybe, juuuuuust maybe, Cypress Bowl will get a big dump of snow right in time for the Olympics.

Or maybe they’ll still have to snowboard on the straw bales and 2 month old snow, while it pukes down sleet.

Oh I don’t envy those athletes nor the organizers one bit. They’re really not getting much of a break!

We’ll see how it pans out.

Full Disclosure: My wife, daughter and I will be at the Opening Ceremonies on Friday (nosebleeds! 5 from the top of BC Place!) and Canada vs. Slovakia womens hockey on Saturday. We’re extremely excited and I really hope the weather is OK. We’re also very thankful to my friends in Vancouver who have put us up (or are putting up with us? :) ) for 3 nights! Thanks Rod and Roz, you’re the best!!

5 days left until the most important day of the year! And that goes for the Weather too!

As I’m typing this, the sun is actually starting to poke through the morning clouds. Somewhere, there is a rainbow in our fair little Valley, and it’s not even 9:30AM! An auspicious start surely… and a sign of things to come.

After we get through our rain showers today we should clear up a bit and get a little colder thanks to high pressure building in. It won’t be as cold as earlier in the month, but below or near zero just the same.

According to the latest computer model, that high pressure is supposed to peak on the 23rd, and on Christmas Eve Day the high starts to break down and yes… there might be a little bit of moisture along with that break down (maybe a cold front coming down from the north).

Doesn’t look like there are any big frontal systems slated to come through, so rain, or large dumps of snow look unlikely in the next week. But there is a possibility for a nice light dusting. This is good!

So… I think it could happen… lets give it a 40% chance of a dusting on Christmas Eve, just in time for Santa and his reindeer and Christmas Morning!

Update 2: The Snowfall Warning has now ended. I’ll have a new post up tomorrow.

UPDATE:
We have a Winner! Zsolt Hengsperger! The Winner has Won a Fabulous NOMA LED Flashlight! Could the winner please email me at chrisale at gmail dot com and we can set up a time for him to come pick up his prize! Congratulations!! And thank you everyone for playing!!

OK. So we’ve been teased for the past week… I’ve never seen forecasts so variable and unreliable right up to the day of.

But now, it seems… they’re getting serious. They’re talking about a Winter Storm. Those are not words they use often around here. It basically means wind, and snow… lots of both.

Batten down the hatches folks, get out the snow shovels and make sure you have your chains ready. Even though the forecast has been so weird… they seem pretty serious this time, and last I checked, there were snowflakes in the air outside.

Here’s the SnowFall Warning:

Start Quote:

A major winter storm with heavy snow expected for the south coast beginning later today with 10 to 20 cm snowfall accumulation by Tuesday.

This is a warning that significant snowfall is expected or occurring in these regions. Monitor weather conditions..Listen for updated statements.

A strong Arctic ridge of high pressure over the British Columbia interior will continue to bring cold dry Arctic air across the north and central coast regions. Strong outflow winds through the inlets and valleys will combine with cold temperatures to give wind chill values of minus 20 or below to the north and central coasts tonight into Tuesday.

A moist frontal system arriving from the pacific will mix with the Arctic air over the south coast giving snow at times heavy over parts of Vancouver Island late this afternoon and then spread to the Lower Mainland early this evening. Total snowfall amounts of 10 to 20 centimetres are expected before the snow changes to rain on Tuesday. Freezing rain will begin during the transition to rain particularly over the Lower Fraser Valley and eastern sections of metro Vancouver. The freezing rain will end over eastern sections of metro Vancouver Tuesday morning and over the Fraser Valley in the afternoon. Strong easterly winds 50 to 70 km/h will also develop this evening over West Vancouver Island ahead of the frontal system and then ease overnight.