Vancouver Island weather forecast calls for snow, freezing rain, possible flooding

Winter weather is the gift that keeps on giving. Problem is, nobody asked for this.

After nearly 40 centimetres of snow on Tuesday, we're getting ready for another hit. This time it’s a winter storm warning for most of Vancouver Island, while northern areas are dealing with a snowfall warning.

Either way it’s going to be a mess over the next 24 hours and into the weekend.

Here’s the breakdown: Thursday afternoon and into the evening, a system is pushing in from the west.

While this system will have mild air with it, we’re still dealing with cold arctic outflow, so we’re going to get a mixed bag of moisture that will cause travel issues.

Snow will be first and that will take us into the late evening hours and early overnight period.

For Greater Victoria, we’re around the five-centimetre range with the potential to get a little more depending on timing.

As the system moves onto the island, temperatures will warm up and we’ll shift from snow to ice pellets and freezing rain. I expect that to happen around 3 a.m. or 4 a.m. and roll through most of the morning Friday.

Obviously, this will pose issues on the roads.

On Friday afternoon, as we continue to warm up to plus-side temperatures, we’ll transition into a wet snow and rain mix.

With cold air holding on a little longer up-island, higher snowfall totals are expected and the switch to warmer temps will take longer.

Moving into the weekend, we see the cold arctic air mass move off the island and we’ll see temperatures return to seasonal or better on Vancouver Island.

Warming up is good news but this moisture-heavy system will continue to churn with more rain right behind.

Saturday and Sunday will bring heavy downpours at times. This will add flooding concerns to the equation.

With the amount of snow we’ve received and heavy rain for a few days, that’s a lot of moisture to handle all at once.

Be aware of localized flooding risks as well as mudslides.

The southwestern areas of the Lower Mainland, and more specifically the Fraser Valley, will be impacted much more with freezing rain.

The Fraser Valley tends to hold on to the cold air longer than other spots and with that will see a longer period with freezing rain. Travel will not be recommended Friday through Saturday.

Looking ahead to next week, we continue to see steady rain but also steady seasonal temperatures.

Things will settle down and we’ll get into a more typical cycle of West Coast winter weather but the next 72 hours will be messy.

Remember to move any piled up snow away from your drains, culverts and basements. Once the rain and melt starts, there’s going to be a lot of water to deal with.