Weather and Climate

Weather Forecasts

Online up to date weather information for British Columbia is available on the Internet visit:

• Environment Canada Weather Office
• The Weather Network

Climate

British Columbia's large size and diverse topography means the climate varies greatly from area to area. This creates wide variations in average hours of sunshine, rainfall, snowfall and temperatures, sometimes over remarkably short distances.

The provinces climate varies from marine on the coast to continental in the interior, and is influenced by its location immediately east of the warm Pacific Ocean, the north-south orientation of its towering mountain chains, the mountainous topography, the prevailing westerly winds, and the province's northerly latitude.

Summer-time temperatures in BC's interior frequently surpass 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit); nearer the coast and in other regions, average temperatures are around 25 degrees Celsius (78 degrees Fahrenheit).

Spring and Fall usually means warm days, but you'll want to bring a jacket along for the cooler nights.

In winter, the Metro Vancouver and Greater Victoria enjoy a temperate climate. But dress warmly if you're heading for Whistler, the interior, or up north.

Temperature Averages - Maximum/Minimum in Celsius

Climate normals or averages are used to summarize or describe the average climatic conditions of a particular location.

At the completion of each decade, Environment Canada updates its climate normals for as many locations and as many climatic characteristics as possible.

Below is a table of temperature norms compiled from Environment Canada data for key cities around British Columbia showing the average maximum and minimum daily temperature (rounded to the nearest degree) recorded for the particular month. The figure after the city in brackets is the elevation in meters above sea level.