Explaining Vancouver Island's unusual April snowfall

It looks like we sprang ahead too far and skipped summer and fall and got right back to winter. What is happening with the weather right now?

We’re dealing with a late winter push in early spring on Vancouver Island, and while it's not typical, it does sometimes happen.

The island's not alone with its unusual weather, as the system that started all this on Sunday is now moving into the Prairies with more punch and a bigger blast of winter than we’re dealing with.

Snow, wind and cold temperatures will be on the menu for Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, but they’re used to that at this time of year and we’re not.

So what is going on and why is this happening? It’s a few moving parts all happening at the same time to deliver one last push of the fourth season.

A low pressure system moved across the island on Sunday. While Tuesday's system was developing, the jet stream was pushing out to the west and dropping south. This allowed more of a northeasterly flow to push colder air into the area. As lows spring in a counter clockwise motion, that helped pull colder air in.

April 12, 2022. (CTV News)

So you have a system that is filled with moisture and drawing in Arctic air, all of this happening at a low level in the atmosphere and delivering moisture as snow in more areas than usual.

We also have some convective energy as part of the equation and that developed some weak thunderstorms.

In the Nanaimo area, some folks were lucky enough to capture thundersnow – a thunderstorm while it snows.

April 12, 2022. (CTV News)

As we moved into Monday this moisture laden low moved south and kept dropping snow throughout the Northwest Pacific states, even giving some snow to Northern California. This first low pressure system continues to roll and will be frustrating Prairie residents over the next 24-36 hours.

As that system moved off the island we saw another small and weaker low develop at the northern tip of Vancouver Island. Again, this is where the motion of a low comes into play, with that counter clockwise spin it’s again drawing in colder air as well as tapping into the backend of the first bigger low.

What does this mean? Snowfall warnings remain for areas of the island Tuesday, and we may see them shift to other spots with more snow potential as we get into Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.

The snow into Wednesday should stay more to the west side of the island. Zeballos, Tahsis, Tofino, Port Alberni and even Port Renfrew have the best chance of a fresh white blanket.

April 12, 2022. (CTV News)

The best part about this is that even though we’re below seasonal with our temperatures, it’s still warm enough to melt most of the snow on impact and it’s not sticking around for long. It’ll melt fast and we can keep trucking towards true spring.

It’s a balancing act for the atmosphere at this time of year and right now we’re not tipping in the right direction. This dance will continue for the rest of the month – this angry, uncoordinated, frenzied dance that is spring on the West Coast.