Metro Vancouverites could get their first taste of snowfall this weekend...but they might also face several bouts of the white stuff this winter.
Environment Canada Meteorologist Lisa Erven tells V.I.A. that winter is far from over in the Lower Mainland and the region may still experience more cold weather events through February and into March.
Metro Vancouver has an opportunity to see some low-elevation snowfall on Thursday, Jan. 30. However, this frosty-weather event is expected to have a greater impact on places at higher elevation, such as Burnaby Mountain and the North Shore mountains. If precipitation starts in the wee hours of the morning, it may fall as snow.
Saturday's forecast includes a second opportunity for snowfall as a lazy, low-pressure system sitting over Vancouver Island brings bursts of precipitation to the Lower Mainland.
"It has all of the ingredients for low-elevation snow on Saturday, with cool temperatures and moisture," she notes, adding that opportunities for snow will continue through Tuesday or Thursday.
Although the forecast remains uncertain after mid-next week, another system could move into the region, bringing more snowfall.
Metro Vancouver weather forecast includes a frosty February
Erven says the weather models show a 40 to 60 per cent chance of near- or below-normal temperatures for February.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Climate Prediction Centre announced that sea surface temperatures in the equatorial Pacific Ocean officially passed the La Niña threshold in December 2024.
La Niña's impacts vary throughout the world. On B.C.'s south coast, La Niña winters are typically colder and wetter, although this isn't always the case. These years often bring more low-elevation snowfall to the region.
While the weather phenomenon impacts local conditions, it is more important to "track weather systems set to impact the coast," Erven notes.
La Niña has a bigger overarching impact but what dictates most local weather are incoming storms and blasts of Arctic air.
"It will be interesting to see what will happen this weekend with temperatures 3 C to 5 C degrees below normal," she notes.
Next week, air moving from the interior to the coast could produce much colder temperatures with the wind chill.
"Regardless, this is the time to pull out the warm-weather gear," she notes.
Stay up-to-date with hyperlocal forecasts across 50 neighbourhoods in the Lower Mainland with V.I.A.'s Weatherhood.
