Top 5 Metro Vancouver weather stories of 2016
Extreme heat, rain, cold and snow all in one year for the South Coast
From record heat to arctic blasts, flooding rains to days of snow — it seems Vancouverites were talking about the weather even more than usual this past year.
One major factor that made 2016 so interesting was the transition from a very strong El Niño to a La Niña.
With the effects of both of these weather phenomena usually most prominent on the West Coast of North America, we saw textbook impacts right here at home.
1. Lack of mountain snow last winter
It may be hard to believe now, but the first few months of 2016 brought so little snow to the North Shore mountains that local ski hills were forced to close for the season early.
It was already a lacklustre start to winter back in 2015, but Grouse, Cypress and Seymour deteriorated quickly as a Pineapple Express set-up brought balmy temperatures and heavy rain the first few weeks of the new year.
It was a very different story though for the Rockies, with enough fresh powder in the first few months of 2016 to entice skiers looking to make up for the lack of snow on the South Coast.
The season became a particularly deadly one after a series of dangerous avalanches in the B.C. Interior.
2. April record heat
The lingering effects of an El Niño meant lingering heat for the early Spring.
April in Vancouver was the hottest on record since 1937, when record-keeping began. It was also the driest in the city since 2004.
Cherry blossoms were out in full force and sunbathers hit the beach early.
But the warm and dry month was felt right across the province and it led to an early start to the wildfire season.
3. Underwhelming summer
As 'Juneuary' turned into 'Februly' and gave way to 'Augarch' (OK, that's pushing it), it was almost the summer that wasn't for Vancouver.
A series of low-pressure systems in the upper atmosphere continued to slide down from Alaska, where they would get stuck in the jet stream over B.C. for days on end.
Showers, cooler temperatures and even thunderstorms became the norm for much of our summer.
Despite the showery days, overall rain wasn't enough to keep drought levels from creeping back up to 'very high' for much of the summer on Vancouver Island.
But the season was in such a stark contrast to the previous few summers that saw record heat and a record drought for Vancouver, for many it felt like we missed out.
4. Fall storms
A series of fall storms led to rain falling on a record-breaking 28 out of 31 days in October. And 25 more days of rain fell in November.
While the autumn months are typically rainy season for us in Vancouver, three back-to-back storms turned deadly when a teenager in Surrey was killed by a falling tree.
Falling trees did damage to homes and led to 290,000 customers without power at the peak of the storm.
An active storm track in early November also meant serious flooding and evacuations for parts of Vancouver Island.
5. Early and harsh winter
The early and relentless rounds of winter weather for Metro Vancouver may be a little too fresh in our memory. In fact, we are still living it as we head into 2017!
The first Arctic blast dropped our temperatures down below zero on Dec. 4, followed by five to 10 centimetres of snow — the first significant snowfall for Vancouver in around 1,000 days.
Waves of Arctic air continued to funnel down through the valleys and inlets of B.C. bringing icy roads, fresh snowfall, and slushy streets during the see-sawing temperature changes.
It was the best of times and the worst of times to be a local meteorologist.
Nightmare commutes, salt shortages and dangerous overnight temperatures continue to make headlines with more cold weather in the long-range outlooks for the West Coast this winter.
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