Michael McCullough / Twitter
If you thought that there was a little more rainfall in Vancouver last week than usual, you'd be correct.
In fact, Vancouver saw one of its wettest weeks on record. While the first week of December was relatively dry and sunny, things took a decidedly damp turn on the weekend. The forecast originally called for snow, however, it rained in the Lower Mainland instead.
What's more, Tuesday, December 11th was the wettest December 11 on record since the the weather records began at Vancouver International Airport in 1937. There was a rain total of 37.8 mm, which caused localized flooding in low-lying areas. A number of Twitter users shared images of the heavy flooding, and some of them show cars that are flooded well over the top of their tires.
With a 10pm rain total of 37.8mm, yesterday was #Vancouver's wettest Dec 11th since records began in 1937. #YvrWx pic.twitter.com/O70YiBVikD
— YVR Weather Records (@YVR__Weather) December 12, 2018
Following this, Thursday, December 13 also set a record for the wettest December 13 since the records began in 1937. In addition, it saw even more rainfall than Tuesday, with a 10 am rain total of 45.8 mm. More images and videos of flooding were shared on Twitter, and there was a disruption on the SkyTrain.
With a 10am rain total of 45.8mm, today is #Vancouver's wettest Dec 13th since records began in 1937. #BCStorm pic.twitter.com/XmKoW01fbq
— YVR Weather Records (@YVR__Weather) December 13, 2018
Vancouver Is Awesome spoke to Matthew MacDonald, Meteorologist, Environment Canada, who put Vancouver's extremely wet week in perspective.
"The average amount of rainfall for the entire month of December in Vancouver is approximately 148.3 mm," he explained.
"In the past week alone we have already received 132 mm. That means we received almost the entire month's worth of precipitation in just under a week."
MacDonald added that the forecast calls for another storm on Sunday, which will bring a great deal of precipitation with it. With that in mind, he says that the storm isn't expected to produce the same amount of rainfall as this past week.
He told us that the wettest December on record was in 1972, when the airport received a whopping 300 mm of rainfall throughout the month.
So, will this December go down in the precipitation history books?
"It's just a little too early to tell," MacDonald said. "But it is certainly a possibility."
