atmospheric river hits b.c.'s south coast
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residents of b.c.’s south coast drenched this week by an atmospheric river should have a brief break in the storm thursday before a second system moves in friday.
environment and climate change canada on wednesday posted rainfall warnings for parts of vancouver island, metro vancouver, the fraser and skagit valleys, the sunshine coast and the sea to sky and howe sound regions. as of thursday morning, those warnings had been lifted.
the heaviest downpour was expected in the fraser valley and southern sections of vancouver island, where up to 110 millimetres of rain is possible through wednesday night. because of the significant amount, the federal weather agency issued an orange warning under its new colour-coded alert system.
the valley was also under a flood warning, although meteorologists say it’s unlikely these storms will cause catastrophic flooding like in 2021 when extreme rainfall of more than 100 millimetres a day from three separate atmospheric rivers caused flooding and landslides that led to the deaths of six people and more than 600,000 farm animals.
“in 2021 the atmospheric river really stalled over top of that area and over the northern portion of washington state as well,” said brian proctor, a meteorologist with environment and climate change canada.
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“whereas this one is still moving — that’s probably the best way to look at it. so it has the potential to be extremely impactful, but i don’t think it’s going to be anything like what we experienced previously in that record-setting flooding we saw.”
proctor said the next system friday is unlikely an atmospheric river and will be more like seasonal rainfall.
“this is probably the most impactful system and then we’ll see lesser amounts of rainfall moving forward, but still a wet pattern,” he said.
environment canada has issued an orange rain warning for the fraser. valley source: environment and climate change canada.
warm air with the system will cause freezing levels to rise, and snowmelt combined with the already saturated ground and heavy rain will likely result in high streamflows and localized flooding, according to the warning posted wednesday morning.
the agency is urging people to stay away from rivers, creeks and culverts, and to avoid driving on flooded roadways.
in metro, howe sound and the sea to sky, meteorologists forecast between 40 and 70 millimetres. the highest rainfall amounts will likely be near the coastal mountains.
proctor said accompanying the storm will be warmer than normal temperatures, with daytime highs of around 10 c or 11 c compared with the usual 5 c or 6 c.
“so that means probably the north shore mountains are seeing rainfall over most elevations. it’s really going to be up in whistler in those back bowls where there will be snowfall but most of the local mountains are going to be seeing rain,” he said.
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on wednesday morning, b.c.’s river forecast centre upgraded a flood watch for the fraser valley to a flood warning, while a high streamflow advisory remains in effect for vancouver island, much of the b.c. coast and southeast b.c.
the flood warning covers the sumas river, including the potential for spillover from the nooksack river and the lower fraser tributaries including the chilliwack, skagit and coquihalla rivers and other areas of the fraser valley around abbotsford, chilliwack, and hope and east through manning park, according to the warning.
river forecasters say a series of atmospheric rivers is impacting the u.s. and the south and central coasts of b.c. through this week.
it was time for umbrellas as people were met by heavy rainfall wednesday as an atmospheric river moved through the region bringing massive amounts of precipitation.
jason payne
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the most recent storm started overnight tuesday and is expected to continue through the day on wednesday. while the highest precipitation amounts for these storms are expected for washington state and oregon, there is the possibility of heavier amounts moving into b.c., the warning stated.
a flood watch means that river levels are rising and will approach river banks but it’s upgraded to a flood warning when rivers have or will overflow imminently, and that flooding in the area is expected.
meantime, it looks like b.c.’s north coast is in for a significant dump of snow. a snowfall warning is in effect for the inland sections, with up to 30 centimetres of snow expected by wednesday afternoon.
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environment canada says the snow will taper off later in the afternoon, with light flurries lingering intermittently into the evening.
the agency announced last month that it would be dividing warnings into three colours: yellow, orange and red.
yellow alerts are the most common and deal with short-term hazardous weather that may cause damage, disruption or health impacts while orange means severe weather is likely to cause significant damage, disruption or health impacts and those impacts are forecast to be major and widespread.
the highest alert level — red — is reserved for rare and dangerous, possibly life-threatening, weather. red alert weather is expected to cause extreme damage and disruption and may be prolonged.
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