BC's November forecast is out and a mess of winter weather is on the way

After a beautiful and mild October, the November forecast is out, and it calls for a “mess of wintry weather” coming to BC this month.

The talk of snow in November might be triggering to those who are still not over last year’s commuter chaos that led many to spend the night in their cars on the highway.

It’s hard to believe that the Metro Vancouver region was basically paralyzed on November 29 after snow fell and then froze, leading to highway and bridge closures that lasted well over 10 hours and led to a lot of anger and questions for the transportation ministry.

But a year later, will we see that kind of mayhem again this fall?

According to The Weather Network, it will be pretty standard Raincouver weather for at least the first week as a low-pressure system rolls in.

“While this will not be deemed an atmospheric river, there will be areas that could pick up nearly 50 mm of rainfall and mountain snow,” they said.

“The temperatures will not be significantly cold, so that freezing levels will hover around 1000 metres for many coastal and Interior ranges,” they added.

That might mean some nasty driving conditions for highways in higher elevations, as well as for travellers going through the interior and northern parts of the province.

While snow is bad news for many, for those anticipating the return of ski season, it will be good news.

It’s predicted some opening days will be coming up quickly for some BC ski resorts, including Sun Peaks and Silverstar, as well as Whistler.

The Weather Network

For the next two weeks, the forecast calls for temperatures well above freezing in Vancouver, only hitting as low as about 9°C during the day and slightly warmer than the average for mid-November.

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In the longer term, Environment and Climate Change Canada predicts it will stay that way well through January. We are in an El Niño system, which causes normal wind conditions from the Pacific Ocean to blow west, stealing the warmer water from South America and pushing it towards Asia, hinting at a warmer winter for the west coast and lowering the risk of an early season snowstorm in lower elevations.

But that doesn’t completely rule out the chance of snow at the end of the month or in early December, and we are expecting to hear more details soon about when or how much will fall.

Are you looking forward to a warmer-than-average November? Let us know in the comments.