VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) - You might want to dig that big, puffy coat out of the back of your closet. The La Nina phenomenon is working to rearrange typical West Coast weather patterns and we are being warned there could be a lot more cold snaps this winter.
"This could be one of the coldest winters in 20 years, perhaps a 'top three' winter in terms of temperatures across much of British Columbia," says Brett Anderson, senior meteorologist with
AccuWeather.
Anderson predicts twice the usual number of arctic outflows, and cooler temperatures overall, but not a ton of snow. "If it's that cold, it's hard to get wet. Much of western British Columbia will actually see less precipitation than normal."
But that precipitation may come in the frozen variety a little more often on the coast, meaning more frequent light snows for Vancouver and Victoria.
"Those light snowfall events will add up, near or perhaps actually higher than normal right in Vancouver and Victoria," he says.
And all this could be bad news for skiers. A colder, drier winter for BC would mean less snowfall than usual from the Coast Mountains right through to the Rockies.