The first serious snowfall of the year came overnight. By the morning there was 5-10 cm depending on where you were in the valley and with snow on and off during the day 10 cm plus further up valley. The snowfall in the Bella Coola Valley can really vary from one end to the other and from one year to the next. At tidewater the snow can often be wet and/or near rain, while further up the valley in the Nusatsum River it can be coming down fast and deep. Mt.Nusatsum is a key 'weather generator' in the valley - the front or west side of it pushing air up and dropping a lot of precipitation which meets cooler air flowing out of the Nusatsum Valley. East of Mt. Nusatsum on the backside, it can create a bit of rainshadow and be colder and clearer to the east. The deepest snow area is often from about Salloomt Road to Firvale, but last year east of Firvale got more snow than west of Firvale.
What is typical and predicable though is a snowfall that ends with a bit of rain like it started to do tonight, that's just the price you pay for living on the edge of the rain forest. Grizzly
On the other hand ...
21 hours ago
here in Victoria we had quite the week. It started with a cold freeze that came quite fast and brought snow and wind (-16 with the wind chill factor), rare for this area. I had to buy a heating pad for the chickens!
ReplyDeleteYour knowledge of the weather patterns there is petty cool. Most people hardly even know to look outside. :)
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