Metro Vancouverites will face an ample amount of rainfall in the coming days — but the stormy systems that are slated to hit the B.C. coast may not have a tremendous impact on the Lower Mainland.
Environment Canada Meteorologist Doug Lundquist told Vancouver Is Awesome that the storm approaching B.C. appears to be heading toward northern Vancouver Island.
"The main event for the big impact on that storm is more on the north end of the island...so north of Tofino or off toward Port Hardy if anything," he said.
"That being said, there is a slight chance a little piece of that low could break off and deepen and move much further south."
If a piece of the low-pressure system breaks off, the American weather model indicates that it could head toward Washington state, explains Lundquist, adding that there is a "very, very low chance of that."
Instead, Lundquist says he's more concerned about the long stretch of wet weather in the coming week. The Vancouver weather forecast calls for rain every day and there's a chance that the city could have more rainfall this month than in an average November. Typically, November is the city's wettest month.
"It's just the pattern of that many rainy days with having a significant amount every day," he notes. "That is starting to concern me. I wonder about the creeks really getting high.
"We should pay attention to the rain," adds the meteorologist.
And while it might not feel particularly warm, Lundquist says the overnight lows this week have been a couple of degrees warmer than usual due to the precipitation. "It's a really mild pattern."
What is a weather bomb?
A "weather bomb" occurs when the pressure of a low deepens by 24 hectopascals or millibars in 24 hours, explains Lundquist. In other words, the low-pressure system deepens rapidly in a short period of time.
In this case, however, the meteorologist notes that once this low-pressure system starts getting close to B.C. it will actually "do the reverse" and "fill as fast as it deepens."
In the event that the low does not fill, there will be a wind warning issued. "Instead of a normal wind warning, we'd see winds gusting 90 [km/h]. We might see winds to 100 km/h."
