Metro Van, Fraser Valley daily snow records

The snowstorm that blanketed the Lower Mainland, bringing hazardous road conditions and closing schools, may have been record-setting, The Leader Spirit Meteorologist Michael Kuss believes.

Snow began falling across the region around midnight Wednesday and didn’t stop well into the evening.

All public schools in Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley closed Jan. 17, with dozens of independents also shutting. Most post-secondary institutions cancelled in-person classes as the weather made commuting too treacherous.

While Environment and Climate Change Canada has not yet released its official assessment, Kuss believes we’ll see daily total accumulation records fall.

“Records galore … It’s hard to keep up with them all,” he said Thursday morning.

“YVR — 27.2 centimetres of snow. That’s a lot … There aren’t many days where we have over 27-centimetre records at any point of the year.

“The old mark, from 1962, was 13.5 centimetres.”

Wednesday’s snow pushed close to the area’s all-time January snowfall record of 29.7 cm at Vancouver International Airport (YVR), recorded on Jan. 18, 1968.

Kuss notes YVR’s all-time record was hit during a white Christmas, when on Dec. 25, 1972, that weather station recorded 41 cm.

Kuss says data shows Abbotsford received over 29 cm of snow Wednesday — a new record. The old record for Jan. 17 was 7.4 cm, recorded in 1970.

“At White Rock — 25 cm of snow. The old record at White Rock was 15.2 cm from 1935 and they’ve been keeping records at that White Rock location since 1929,” Kuss explained.

“Of course, most of these records [are] just going back to the 1920s to 30s, if not even more recent, but there’s still a lot of snow, and we’re shattering those marks from yesterday.”

Meanwhile, Kuss says Thursday is a “clean-up day,” with much less precipitation expected.

But don’t pack away the shovels and salt just yet, as the next system coming Thursday afternoon is expected to bring a brief period of freezing rain around Metro Vancouver and more likely, the Fraser Valley, Kuss says.

“Really, Langley stretching all the way out through the (Fraser) Valley. Chilliwack could get nasty with extended periods of freezing rain lasting into the overnight before the arctic air gets flushed out. So, not great for travelling if you can avoid it late day today into early tomorrow morning.”

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