An intense weather system brought a deluge of rain to British Columbia’s south coast, setting multiple daily rainfall records in the Lower Mainland from Tuesday to Wednesday.
Meteorologist Michael Kuss from 1130 NewsRadio explains that although some showers linger, Thursday is expected to be much drier as the atmospheric river weakens and moves away from the region. Despite this, a significant amount of precipitation, over 100 millimetres in some areas extending from Chilliwack to the mountains, was recorded within less than 24 hours, with the water continuing downstream in the watershed for the next day.
On December 10, various locations in the Fraser Valley experienced record-breaking rainfall, including Abbotsford with 86.2 millimetres, Hope with 134.2 millimetres, Agassiz with 91.8 millimetres, and Chilliwack’s airport with 110 millimetres of rain, surpassing records dating back to 1896. Vancouver International Airport and White Rock also reported notable rainfall amounts on Wednesday.
While some regions of British Columbia faced significant rainfall, the weather system did not break records across all areas, but still saw substantial precipitation levels.
Kuss warns that flooding may persist as local watersheds struggle to cope with the excess water, but the province is expected to experience calmer weather patterns over the next five to seven days.