If you thought winter was pretty much done, there's going to be some cool days next week that would like to have a word with you (metaphorically speaking, they're days so they can't talk).
Arctic air is currently in northern B.C., the Yukon and Alberta and will be moving into the southern interior in the coming days. Luckily, Vancouver won't just get a straight blast of Arctic air, as it'll mix and warm a bit there before it gets drawn out to the coast says Environment Canada meteorologist Lisa Erven.
"The system on the weekend is the most interesting," she explains. "It will attempt to pull some of that arctic air from Peace into the central interior of B.C., then northerly winds behind that system will drag more of a modified air mast into southern parts of B.C."
A trough over Vancouver Island means that modified air mass will move west down the Fraser Valley and over Vancouver early next week, over Monday and Tuesday.
"We should expect temperatures from about 2-5 C below normal," Erven says. "Normal for this time of the year is highs around 8 C."
That means the daytime high on Monday or Tuesday could be as low as 1 to 3 C she says. Overnight lows will likely drop below zero and get as low as -5 C or so.
Exact predictions are difficult at this point, she adds, it depends on what happens to that air mass over the central and southern interior. It also depends on how cloudy it is over Vancouver, and when. For example, if there's a clear night, it'll be colder.
After Tuesday night it should begin to warm back up to normal slowly.
"Likliest, the coldest night will be Monday night, possibly Tuesday night," Erven says. "There's a very gradual warming trend as we get into the mid- to late-period of next week."
