Vancouverites are being warned to brace for the first significant snow event of the new year this weekend.
Following bitterly cold temperatures in the Lower Mainland, the national weather forecaster calls for snowfall overnight Saturday (Feb. 25).
Environment Canada meteorologist Bobby Sekhon says a lingering weather system sliding down from the Gulf of Alaska provides the ideal conditions for snow on Saturday but the exact timing of the event is uncertain.
"Since it's still a few days out it is difficult to say," he told V.I.A. in a phone interview on Thursday (Feb. 23). "It could start with a few flakes falling on Saturday afternoon."
While the timing of the event will become more clear over the next day or so, the bone-chilling temperatures should start to warm up ahead of it, Sekhon explains.
"It's going to be backing off and so you know, we're not going to be as cold," he says, adding that the temperatures will still be below seasonal averages despite warming up.
The national weather forecaster expects there to be at least a couple of centimetres of snowfall accumulation overnight Saturday but the exact amount is also uncertain at this time.
Before the snow event, however, Thursday night is expected to see the coldest temperatures from the Arctic front. Temperatures in the city should dip down to a low of -7 C overnight but may feel significantly colder with the windchill, with some parts of the Lower Mainland feeling as cold as -15 C.
While the cold weather will ease up heading into the weekend, a "warmer trend" is expected to begin by Sunday afternoon. That said, unsettled conditions and overnight lows falling below seasonal averages mean that there is the possibility for flurries a couple of times next week.
Metro Vancouver weather forecast
March 1 is the start of meteorological spring and Environment Canada expects the first couple of weeks of the month to see temperatures a couple of degrees below seasonal averages.
The complete spring forecast won't come out until the start of the season and Sekhon says at this time the forecast for the last couple of weeks of March is less clear.
