While Vancouver has a great deal of wet weather throughout the year, you may have noticed it was wetter than average this October — and you'd be correct in that assumption.
But the spookiest month of 2021 wasn't one for the record books.
Environment Canada Meteorologist Bobby Sekhon told Vancouver Is Awesome in a phone interview that Vancouver had 148 mm of precipitation this October. In an average year, the city has about 121 mm, which made this year about 23 per cent wetter.
"We just struggled to string together very many dry days," he said. "There weren't very many consecutive days in a row where we had good weather."
Locals hoping for a dry respite this November may have to travel outside of the city, however.
"November is the wettest month of the year with an average of 189 mm in precipitation," noted Sekhon, adding that both September and October produced weather that "we expect a little later in fall."
While the wet weather trend doesn't necessarily mean that November will be wetter than average, the meteorologist said it is a possibility. Additionally, the month is expected to be somewhat cooler than average. "So with that, we'll see probably temperatures dip somewhat...that's what we're seeing for the middle of the month."
Environment Canada hasn't released a winter forecast but a La Niña winter is expected. These phases have historically produced colder-than-average seasons, explained Sekhon.
During a La Niña phase, which occurs on average every three to five years, sea surface temperatures in the open waters of the equatorial Pacific Ocean dip to below-average levels. By mid-October, a La Niña phase had officially developed, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said in a news release.
