It was a dark and stormy night…No, this isn’t a Halloween story, but grey skies and gusty winds are about to follow a clear and calm Halloween night.

A low pressure system tracking towards northwestern Washington state is expected to bring a lot of rain and wind to the south coast of BC. Here’s how much rain and wind you can expect in your community:

 

Location

Rain

Tonight-Saturday

Wind

Saturday

Victoria

20-30mm

SW 50-70km/h

Nanaimo

30-50mm

NW 20-30km/h

Tofino

50-60mm

NW 60-80km/h

Port Hardy

<20mm

NW 50-70km/h

Most of the heavy rain will fall overnight. Temperatures will be fairly steady until the cold front passes tomorrow afternoon. You’ll know when that’s happened because it will be very windy as it moves over the region. Strong winds will begin around the noon hour and continue for several hours.

Neither rainfall nor wind warnings have been issued for Vancouver Island. On the mainland, it’s a different story. Metro Vancouver is under a rainfall warning tonight. Up to 50mm of rain is expected within the warning region, with up to 80mm forecast for the north shore. Rain will ease to scattered showers on Saturday. The low then tracks into the interior of BC meaning heavy snow is on the way. Snowfall warnings have been issued for the Chilcotin and 100 mile house areas. Heavy snow is exected to begin this evening in the Southern Chilcotin spreading east to 100 Mile House near midnight. People there will be waking up to 10-25cm of snow tomorrow morning!

If you’re travelling through BC tomorrow you’ll likely encounter snow at many higher elevation mountain passes. Ahead of the system, 5-10cm  of snow is expected over highway passes including the Coquihalla, Okanagan Connector, parts of Highway 3 (Hope to Princeton via Allison Pass and Paulson Summit to Kootenay Pass), and Rogers Pass. Tomorrow another 10-20cm of snow is expected. In the wake of the system, the snow level will drop to 900 meters, meaning rain will change to snow over the Coquihalla.

Mount Washington will get its share of snow too. It looks like the island alpine resort will see about 20cm of snow this weekend!

If you’re not thrilled about the blustery forecast, don’t worry. It won’t last long. Sunshine breaks through the clouds again Sunday. Perfect timing. That’s the day Daylight Saving Time ends. You’ll have an extra hour to enjoy it!