When will spring weather arrive in B.C.?

When will spring weather arrive in this province?

The stats are in and April finished off just as expected, much cooler than normal for this time of year.

This cool trend was particularly exceptional because it was felt across the entire province.

While we didn’t break any monthly records, 15 of the 30 cities with long-term data were within the top 10 coldest Aprils on record. The departure from normal temperature ranged from -1 C to -4.4 C.

Campbell River and Chetwynd were the third coldest on record, while Prince George, Cranbrook and Penticton were the fourth coldest.

Vancouver came in as the 28th coldest on record with 1.4 C below normal.

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B.C. experienced a series of relentless cold upper-level troughs through April and this pattern is continuing in May.

Upper-level troughs are when the jet stream drops south in latitude and allows arctic air to shift into the province.

Typically, spring months like April often come with large swings in the jet stream and thus temperatures where several days of 17 C to 20 C are not out of the question.

These warmer periods can bump up the average temperature significantly.

However, this year B.C. has been consistently cooler than average, with only a couple of warmer days and none above 16 C in Vancouver.

In addition, the region experienced a couple of record cold days over the Easter weekend.

At this time, the overall weather pattern for the next several days will remain the same with continued series of cold upper-level troughs.

Temperatures over the Mother’s Day weekend could range from 2 to 6 C below seasonal.