The air feels chilly, and some blowing snow warnings have been issued for highways in B.C., but when might the Vancouver area see freezing temperatures and its first snowfall?
Winter doesn’t officially begin until Dec. 21, but the earliest the region has seen snow on record dates back to Oct. 29, 1991, when just one centimetre of snow was recorded.
In more recent years, like in 2022, we’ve seen a couple of centimetres recorded in November, but as Derek Lee, meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, told Daily Hive, that’s rare for the region.
Lee had more insights about when we can expect winter weather in and around Vancouver, but don’t get your hopes up if you’re hoping for it sooner than later.
Looking at current conditions, we’re seeing closer to seasonal temperatures than we have in October in previous years. In fact, in October 2023, temperatures broke heat records in B.C. That isn’t the case this month as you’ve likely experienced a chill in the air over recent weeks.
In November, Lee says we’re expecting more of the same, if not slightly above seasonal.
“We still have a good confidence that it should still be above normal for temperatures,” he told Daily Hive.
Lee said November is likely going to be wetter than usual. He also doesn’t rule out periods of exceptionally cool weather that could shift things in favour of a more wintry day. Overall, it looks to be a typical Vancouver November that might offer a little more precipitation than usual.
“Then after that, in December and all the way into February, that’s where things really fall apart.”
What Lee means by that is the signals ECCC has access to, from which it determines future weather patterns, are too weak. That doesn’t necessarily rule out some freak snow in November, it just means it’s hard to tell, at this point.
Other patterns are a stronger indicator for when we’ll see snow or at least freezing temperatures in Vancouver.
“We do have La Niña in effect, and La Niña is the one that usually brings us our cooler temperatures,” Lee said, adding that the effects of that probably won’t be felt until early 2026.
In 2023, the first significant snowfall Vancouver saw was in December. Then, the city saw considerable snowfall in January 2024. Metro Vancouver also saw some snow in November 2024 and in February 2025.
“In the past few years, we’ve seen a lot of La Niña winters, which did lead to cooler-than-normal temperatures. But La Niña’s strength each year is different,” Lee said.
Lee mentioned that this year’s La Niña seems to be weaker than previous years.
So to sum it up, over the next few weeks, we’ll see mostly seasonal or slightly above seasonal temperatures. We’ll also see higher-than-normal precipitation in November. And if you’re waiting for snow, it’s likely that you’ll be waiting till December at the very least.