Summary

A warm atmospheric river event is looming for BC, and it now appears there won’t be much of a break in the action with widespread precipitation expected from Thursday night through Saturday. The heaviest precipitation will fall on Friday afternoon and Friday night (and also Saturday morning for the Interior) with freezing levels rising to 2,000 meters during this time. Unfortunately, this will lead to rain issues for many areas. Colder air will arrive on Saturday for the Coast Range and Saturday night for the Interior, with a secondary disturbance bringing light snow to the Coast Range and North Columbias on Sunday. Skiing conditions will be challenging over the next couple of days as the most reliable (but still wet and heavy) snow will be confined to upper mountains of ski areas. Sunday should offer improving conditions for the Coast Range and North Columbias as light snow falls with freezing levels at the base, but it may not be enough to cover rain crusts. A more favorable storm is expected to arrive from the northwest around February 4th-5th with low freezing levels.

Short Term Forecast