UPDATE 9PM Monday – SNOWFALL AND WINTER STORM WARNINGS ISSUED

Warnings Issued

This afternoon Environment Canada issued

• a Snowfall warnings for Inland Vancouver Island (Gold River/Port Alberni/Cowichan),
• a Winter Storm Warning for the East side of the Island from Campbell River down to Nanoose Bay.
• a Snowfall Warning for the East side from Nanaimo to Duncan.

The Snowfall Warnings are for anywhere from 10-20cm. The Wind Storm Warnings add strong Winds over 50kph on the northern parts of the East side of the Island but realistically we can expect some wind in all areas. In short: There is a good chance we will have a serious snow storm throughout the middle of Tuesday through Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. See more timing details below.

Please consider postponing any travel and, because it is the middle of the day schools, colleges and Universities may not close until noon, if at all depending on when the snow and/or wind begins.

Take care out there.

Original post below

Might shift between rain/snow

It was a VERY icy start this morning, especially on the east island if you had to drive. Hope everyone made it where they needed to go.

Tuesday is the major day of interest though. We will have a system come down the Island through the morning and afternoon. Below is the picture for 12PM Thursday. Green shows possible snowfall, greys show possible rainfall.

As you can see the models are expecting both. Notice in Port Alberni and the Alberni Valley it is grey, for rain at this time. How much snow falls, or sticks, will be very dependant on the location you are in, whether it is already cold, and how hard it is ‘precipitating’.

The heavier the rainfall, the more likely it will drag the temperature down close to zero and switch to rain. Keep an eye on your local temperature, as soon as it approaches +2ºC or lower, expect the rain to start to turn to sleet or snow.

The model expects a changeover to snow in the 1-2PM hour Tuesday

Tuesday Evening serious snow

The battle between rain or snow should end by sundown as both falling temperature and heavier precipitation have the model expecting snowfall across the Island entire Island except Victoria and perhaps Tofino/Ucluelet.

Heaviest accumulations look like Courtenay/Bowser and Duncan/Ladysmith.

I would avoid driving Tuesday from 3PM onward.

Except anywhere up to 15cm/6″ of snow.

Variable, potentially messy Wednesday

The main storm will finish overnight Tuesday and on Wednesday we should be left with some patchy rain and snow showers throughout the day. Expect it to be cold too with lows around -2ºC and highs to only 3ºC.

There are continued threats of showers or flurries through the week and it will remain cold. If you don’t have snow tires on, you won’t want to be on any highways this week.

Stay safe out there!

About The Author