Snowpack
Snow basin indices for January 1st 2017 range from a low of 49% of normal in the Liard to a high of 114% in the South Coast (Table 1 and Figure 1). The province has below-normal snow pack for January 1st, with the average of all snow measurements at 82%. Well below-normal snowpack (<65%) is present in northern BC, including the Upper Fraser, Skeena-Nass, Stikine, Peace, and Liard. Slightly below-normal snowpacks (65-80%) are present in the Boundary and Okanagan. Near-normal snowpacks (85-115%) are present throughout the rest of the province.

Two key weather factors have been driving the seasonal snowpack development this year. First is the extremely warm November period across the province. This led to a delay in the early season accumulation of snow, and in some areas led to melting of the early season snow that had fallen in October. During November, river runoff from melting snow and moderate to heavy rainfall, led to extremely high seasonal flows for most river systems in the BC Interior. The second key weather driver has been the dominance of Arctic air across the province through December. This has led to dry conditions, particularly across northern BC, and cold conditions across the province. Colder than normal temperatures in south-west BC has led to much greater snow accumulations at low elevation, while the impact on higher elevation snowpack has been modest. Snow at low elevation has been much higher than normal through December, with many areas receiving twice as much snow as normal, or more.

Weather

Weather patterns flipped in December, ushering in the dominance of Arctic air across British Columbia. Monthly temperatures were typically 2-5˚C below normal across the province. Precipitation through December was generally below normal to near normal across the province, with some areas of the South Interior experiencing above-normal precipitation. While precipitation amounts were not exceptional, cold temperatures led to much higher than normal (typically 130-300% of normal) snowfall throughout December for low elevation areas of south-west BC.