It’s beginning to look a lot like winter on Vancouver’s mountains as local ski hills gear up for a busy season.
Grouse Mountain and Mount Seymour have updated outdoor enthusiasts with snow reports showing fresh powder overnight.
And with Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) telling Daily Hive that additional snow may soon come, now is the time to get ready to ski and snowboard on the North Shore.
Mount Seymour
“Typically, it’s pretty rare to see snowfall occurring in October. But when we look into November, we notice a lot more signals for more events,” said ECCC meteorologist Ken Dosanjh. “So, hedging bets… we could possibly see signs of some snowfall activity.”
Mount Seymour and Grouse Mountain have announced 6 cm of recent snowfall with the latter having an accumulation of 16 cm for the season.
Mount Seymour
While Cypress Mountain has yet to refresh its downhill conditions report, webcams show plenty of snow on the hills, which is exciting for outdoor enthusiasts.
ECCC’s Trevor Smith recently told Daily Hive that a transition to La Niña is expected as early as November.
Cypress Mountain
“It’s kind of imminent that we’ll go into a La Niña condition, and that’s expected to persist through the winter,” Smith said, adding the peak will likely occur around December and January, “and then it’ll slowly wane” into the spring.
A La Niña winter means more lowland snow events, more cold air outbreaks, and higher snowpack, especially at lower elevations.
Grouse Mountain
“It would definitely tend to favour the North Shore mountains of Vancouver, compared to last year, which was a strong El Niño,” Smith added.
Are you excited for the upcoming ski season? Do you have your winter tires on your vehicle? Let us know in the comments.
With files from Megan Devlin and Nikitha Martins