Environment and Climate Change Canada confirmed that 1.2 centimeters of snow was recorded at the weather station at Vancouver International Airport on Monday – an unusual dose of winter weather for this early November. Meteorologist Alyssa Charbonneau told CTV News she had to go all the way back to 1991 to find records of measurable snowfall earlier in the fall. 2 cm was recorded at YVR on October 28 of the same year. “I remember that, because I think it was still snowing on Halloween,” Charbonneau said. He noted that Vancouver records only record snowfall at the airport and that there could have been earlier snow more recently than the 1990s in higher elevation areas. “With the airport being at sea level, it tends to be warmer than some parts of Metro Vancouver,” Charbonneau added. Some Vancouverites may remember seeing snow on November 3, 2017, although it wasn’t enough to set Environment Canada records. While it’s not that unusual for Vancouver to see snowfall in November, Charbonneau said it’s usually in the second half of the month. On social media, many people were excited to see a light dusting of snow this week – but others found the snowfall worrying, particularly coming so soon after the unusually warm and dry conditions that stretched from late summer into October. “Just went from summer to winter in less than 2 weeks,” wrote Twitter user Justin Chan. “Usually the first snow is magical, but not this year.” Charbonneau acknowledged that the snowfall looks like a “big swing” from last month’s conditions that led to droughts and an extended fire season, but said the wild swings are actually more or less normal. “Weather fluctuates between different patterns and extremes all the time,” the meteorologist said. According to Environment Canada, about a centimeter of snow had accumulated by the end of Monday at YVR Airport, but other areas likely saw more — including Burnaby Mountain, where social media videos captured scenes of a winter wonderland in the afternoon. Forecasters expect temperatures in the region to remain cool for the next few days, before rising slightly at the end of the week.
