With Vancouver not getting a white Christmas this year, barring a miracle, a new report sheds light on the future of winter weather in BC, which could be much like this year.
Climate Central recently conducted an analysis revealing the impact climate change is having, including increasing the number of winter days with minimum temperatures above freezing, also known as “lost winter days.”
Looking at the weather forecast for major BC cities across Metro Vancouver, over the next seven days, the closest temperatures will get to freezing are around 4°C later this week, with no snow in the forecast.
Climate Central says the trend to warmer temperatures is due to climate change, “primarily to burning oil, coal, and methane gas.”
“Around 44% of cities analyzed (393 of 901) experienced at least one additional week’s worth of days above freezing annually due to climate change.”
In Canada, between 2014 and 2023, 20% of the analyzed areas, including British Columbia, saw at least one additional week of winter days above freezing-temperatures.
Canada’s major cities, like Calgary, Toronto and Vancouver, experienced at least five additional days yearly in the analysis period “where temperatures were above freezing due to climate change, compared to a world without climate change.”
Climate Central
Vancouver typically sees 69 winter days above 0°C annually. Due to climate change, 19 additional days above 0°C are added yearly. Vancouver is actually atop the warm weather leaderboard compared to other major cities.
Climate Central
We sent the report to Environment and Climate Change Canada yesterday. While meteorologist Derek Lee couldn’t specifically address the report, he did say that between 1997 and 2003, we saw fewer white Christmases in the region compared to pre-1997 trends.
“That probably is the trend moving forward because of climate change and seeing global temperatures rising,” he added.
With files from Isabelle Docto