rainfall records broken in metro vancouver, fraser valley
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an atmospheric river that hit b.c.’s south coast wednesday broke several records for rainfall in metro vancouver and the fraser valley.
seventeen daily precipitation records were broken in b.c. on dec. 10, with the highest amount of rain falling in hope at 134.2 mm, beating a record 74.5 mm from 2004, according to ken dosanjh, a meteorologist with environment and climate change canada. over tuesday and wednesday, hope recorded 140 mm.
agassiz and chilliwack both recorded 91.8 mm, smashing a record 52.6 mm set in 1896, while abbotsford hit 86.2 mm, breaking its previous extreme of 56.7 mm in 2004.
dosanjh said some of the other records that were broken were in white rock, esquimalt, victoria, langley, and pitt meadows. langley, for example, set a record 56.7 mm beating the previous mark of 55.6 mm while white rock hit 45 mm, up from 33.8 mm set in 2004.
on thursday morning, environment and climate change canada had lifted the yellow and orange rainfall warnings, but dosanjh cautioned that more rain was on the way, noting that so far december has been wetter than normal.
“we did see that first push move through monday, that kind of pre-saturated all the soil. and then the second event that we saw tuesday night into wednesday was longer in duration, but a little more intensity,” he said.
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“looking forward, we are continuing to have this wet stream so caution is definitely needed. we’ll continue to monitor the forecast for sure, because we are looking at generally a wet, active pattern.”
dosanjh said high pressure systems are stagnant over the yukon and california.
“think of it almost like the bread of a sandwich, where these two things are outside and inside, you’ve created essentially a storm highway where these pacific weather systems have nowhere to go but towards b.c.’s south coast, the north central coast, and washington,” he said.
he added this pattern is likely to continue for the next few days, or even a week.
“we definitely have to be a little more heightened and aware of these upcoming storms. so that’s something that we’re going to continue to watch out for. and the best way for the public to be prepared is by staying informed.”
b.c.’s river forecast centre upgraded a flood watch for the fraser valley to a flood warning wednesday, 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.
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dosanjh said fraser valley residents should have a break in the rain thursday but there could be up to 10 mm more falling on friday.
“but again, as we start to look more toward the end of the week, sunday into early next week, we’re going to have to heed caution on any potential systems that come through the area. so far, they don’t look to be as extreme as what we’ve seen thus far, but nevertheless, it’s kind of those additive effects that kind of create the increased vulnerabilities,” he said.
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