If you haven’t already noticed, Vancouver has been abnormally cold this week. Don’t let the sunny skies fool you!
The temperature has been consistently dipping below zero, hitting as low as -10 C overnight. We Vancouverites aren’t accustomed to these freezing conditions, especially not at the end of February heading into spring.
https://twitter.com/hannahnicholls_/status/1496622480978374658?s=20&t=4RtMlsImeme8yYspx1eyEA
The arctic air mass over the B.C. coast is causing wind chills that can make 5 C feel like -5 C. These shivering gusts can be as cold as -15 C, which is far below seasonal norms.
The Fraser Valley and Howe Sound regions may even experience some flurries on Wednesday and Thursday.
As we head into the weekend, temperatures should return to normal at highs of 8 C and lows of 4 C.
But what is this “arctic air mass” that meteorologists keep referring to?
It’s basically a large volume of cold air that invades an area, in this case, the Pacific Northwest. The cold air flows from snow-covered regions North of us, and because of the long winter nights, the cold air stabilizes in place until the weather warms up and the mass gets pushed south.
So even though Vancouver has been beautiful and sunny this entire week, the cold winds from the arctic air mass are keeping us from putting on our sandals.
More on air masses:
Don’t stuff your winter clothes in storage just yet. Until Friday, you’ll need to bundle up and rack up your BCHydro bill in order to survive this cold snap. Let’s hope this is the last extreme weather warning in B.C. for a while… Wishful thinking?