Mountain Weather Forecast

The next couple days will be marked by a shift in the weather, as the ridge of high pressure begins to move east and a series of lows approach the BC coast. The first low arrives today and will bring light rain and mountain top snow to the BC south coast. The low approaching the coast combined with the ridge of high pressure over Alberta will produce strong outflow winds through coastal inlets and valleys.

A second, stronger system will move onto the BC coast late Friday, and then into the BC interior Saturday. This system will pack a punch, with higher precipitation amounts, stronger coastal winds, and warm air moving into the the interior ranges.

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The 500 mb animation above shows the upper ridge of high pressure that had been over BC, slowly shifting over the Prairies. A quasi-stationary upper low sits in the Gulf of Alaska. As the ridge moves off, a series of upper troughs will circle around this low and move across BC. The strongest of these arrives on the coast Saturday.

On Sunday we see the upper low weaken. A ridge of high pressure then builds off the BC coast Monday, with the flow over BC will shifting to northwesterly.