Wettest day of the year for Metro Vancouver

A low pressure system that has lingered on the South Coast for several days unloaded a torrent of rain on all of Metro Vancouver this morning.

From midnight to noon, 30.7 millimetres of rain fell at Vancouver Harbour – making it the wettest day on record in 2016.

It’s also the most rain recorded for any day in May since 2001, when 44.6 millimetres were recorded on May 14.

“It is still May, it’s still spring. We’ve become accustomed to dry Mays, but May and June can still be very wet,” said Global BC meteorologist Michael Kuss.

“It’s not just wet, it’s cold too. We’ve just become accustomed to springs that are more like summers, and this is what spring is supposed to be like.”

Other areas of Metro Vancouver that experienced a record amount of precipitation from midnight to noon today include Richmond (32.4 mm), South Burnaby (42.6mm), and Coquitlam (29.6 mm).

There have also been reports of flooding on Barnet Highway, and a downed tree branch at Rumble St. and Boundary Road.

A snow advisory was also issued for the Coquihalla, and Environment Canada says as much as 20 centimetres of snow could fall in the Muncho Lake area of northeastern B.C., west of Fort Nelson.

The good news?

“This is pretty much the end of it,” says Kuss.

“Rest of today, and then it’ll start drying out tomorrow, and then back to the summer like weather for the start of June.”

– With files from The Canadian Press