There's more snow in store for Victoria in a seemingly never-ending winter that has already broken records.
Environment Canada says one to two centimetres of snow will fall on the region beginning around 10 or 11 p.m. Wednesday night.
While it likely won't be enough snow to stick downtown, the best chance for accumulation will be in inland areas and the Malahat.
Eastern Vancouver Island between Qualicum Beach and Courtenay could see upward of five centimetres of snow, the weather agency said.
A new record for total snowfall in February has already been shattered at the Victoria International Airport.
The airport recorded 68.3 centimetres of snow so far this month – more than 10 times the monthly normal of 6.3 centimetres.
"A lot of that just has to do with this prolonged cold spell," said Environment Canada Meteorologist Matt MacDonald.
An arctic air mass has remained stagnant over Western Canada since Feb. 3, MacDonald said.
It has plunged Victoria into its second-coldest month on record, going back to 1941.
"The airport is sitting at 0.9 degrees Celsius. The normal is 5.1, so that's four degrees colder than normal," said MacDonald.
Temperatures are expected to dip to zero degrees Wednesday night and down to minus four later this week. That's well-below normal overnight lows of around plus three degrees for this time of year.
The Victoria Extreme Weather Protocol was activated for a second straight day on Wednesday, meaning additional shelter beds would be provided for homeless people to escape the frigid weather.
But there's some good news in the forecast. Beginning Friday and stretching into Tuesday, Environment Canada forecasts a run of sunny weather with daytime highs of between six and nine degrees.
"Tuesday could be the first double-digit temperature we've seen since Jan. 19," said MacDonald. "Overall, the trend is still colder-than-normal conditions out until the middle of March. This warming has been very elusive."
He said the region will finally approach near-normal temperatures beginning in mid-March.
