An atmospheric river is making its way to parts of B.C. this weekend
An atmospheric river is heading for British Columbia this weekend — but Metro Vancouver won’t see the worst of it.
Matt Loney, a senior program meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, told Daily Hive in an interview on Thursday that the system will mainly impact the north coast and the northern tip of Vancouver Island.
Some areas could see close to 100 millimetres of rain between Friday and Saturday, which may trigger rainfall warnings.
For Metro Vancouver, it’s a much smaller story.
Forecasts are calling for 10 to 20 millimetres of rain, with up to 25 millimetres possible in the North Shore mountains.
Squamish could get 20 to 30 millimetres, while Tofino may see 20 to 40.
On the atmospheric river scale, which ranks storms from one to five, this event comes in at a strong 3/5 for the North Coast. For the Lower Mainland, though, Loney said it “barely meets the one out of five.”
“This is fairly typical for September,” he told Daily Hive. “It may be a little juicier in the north, but there’s nothing unusual about seeing a fall storm of this intensity.”
He added that this isn’t a classic “Pineapple Express,” but rather a series of storms merging over the Pacific and funnelling moisture into the province.
What people should know
Loney said this could be the first real fall storm of the season. His advice? Residents should clear fallen leaves from storm drains to prevent flooding.
The winds aren’t expected to be a big problem for the south coast, though it may feel breezy. Still, he encouraged people to keep an eye on updates.
“The expectation is that it’s gonna be, you know, just a good soaking of rain for the Lower Mainland, but of course, things can always change,” Loney said.
And if you’ve ever wondered what it means when the forecast calls for a “30 per cent chance of rain,” Environment and Climate Change Canada said on a Facebook post that it’s the probability that at least 0.2 millimetres of precipitation will fall somewhere in the forecast region during a given period.
At higher percentages, the wording shifts; when it’s 80 per cent or more, forecasters drop the word “chance” entirely and simply say rain or snow.
At lower than 30 per cent, the risk is usually left out because it’s too small to matter.
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