After a decent string of nice weather, an atmospheric river is bringing heavy rain to most of Metro Vancouver.
Environment Canada has issued a rainfall warning for the area, which is expected to last until Monday evening.
Fifty to 70 mm of rain is expected to hit the region before tapering off overnight. Environment Canada is also warning of heavy downpours that have the potential to cause floods.
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While most of Metro Vancouver will be hit with up to 70 mm of rain, some parts of BC could be looking at as much as 100 mm on Monday.
February has been a relatively dry month for BC according to The Weather Network. But, it’s expected to rain so much on Monday that places like Vancouver will meet near-normal rainfall totals for the month.
The cities covered in the rainfall warning include:
- Vancouver
- Burnaby
- New West
- North Shore including West and North Vancouver
- Coquitlam
- Maple Ridge
Rain will also be heavy at times for the Fraser Valley, Howe Sound, Greater Victoria, and East Vancouver Island from Duncan to Nanaimo.
While it’ll be wet until at least Wednesday, Monday is expected to be the worst of it.
After a few soggy days to ring in March, the forecast is expected to clear up significantly while still dipping down to fairly cold temperatures overnight.
Environment Canada
The Weather Network has an atmospheric river rating scale between one and five, with five being “primarily hazardous.”
The Weather Network
The atmospheric river hitting Metro Vancouver is a level one, meaning “primarily beneficial.”
“As precipitation has been rather light for the majority of February, this precipitation is welcomed for the ski resorts as it will help to add more base for the spring ski season,” said The Weather Network Meteorologist Matt Grinter in a release.
Spring is just around the corner, but you can’t have flowers without rain.