Windy – Snowy – Saturday and Weekend

Everybody Gets Some This Time

The threat of strait-effect snow seems to have finally passed, but now it’s time for a more traditional snow system to makes it way to Vancouver Island!

Starts overnight Friday

Starting around 1AM Saturday morning, we can expect to see flurries moving down the Island with light winds.

Snowy Saturday Morning – Wind Starts

Flurries should pick up to steady light snow in the morning on Saturday. Below is the 7-10AM picture, we can see snow or flurries for all areas, southerly winds starting to pickup on the West Coast, and snow intensity (green and blue) really picking up on the north Island.

West Coast Heavy Snow and Wind – Afternoon

Heaviest precipitation is expected to impact the West Coast in the 1-4PM period. It will be very interesting to see whether the southerly winds bring in enough warm air to change the precipitation to rain, but expect Highway 4 and Sutton Pass to have extremely heavy snowfall.

There are some pockets of heavy snow in Campbell River at this time and possibly Bowser and Courtenay.

Southerly and South Easterly Winds will begin to really pickup both on the West and East side of the Island.

Mid-South Island Heavy Snow 4-7PM Saturday

I expect snowfall in Port Alberni to be hardest in the Saturday afternoon-to-evening timeframe. Points north and south of Nanaimo should have some good snow rates as well but Nanaimo and Victoria appear to be in a shadow. Certainly by this time, travel on the highways will not be recommended anywhere.

As the front passes in this period, winds will shift from Southerly to Northwestly. They should still be quite strong.

Sunday variable

There will be an unstable and variable airmass in the wake of this storm on Sunday.

You might see patches of light rain or snow pop up all across the Island with gusty westerly or northwesterly winds.

Interesting storm Monday

A low pressure centre approaches northern Washington on Monday afternoon. We could see a mix of rain or snow and probably more wind as well.

No lack of interesting weather lately!

Have a wonderful weekend.

And if you’re up to it, feel free to come to Coldest Night of the Year on Saturday at the Sage Haven (ACAWS) offices on 3rd Avenue (more info at the CNOY Port Alberni event page! Registration starts at 4PM in the parking lot behind the office. Walk starts at 5PM. We’ll have light meals and refreshments after the walk.

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