Snowfall warning in place for North Coast Inland, Rain and Strong winds on way for Prince Rupert for Boxing Day

Christmas eve will be a snowy one for some areas of the North Coast Inland section of the Northwest with a Snowfall Warning put in place by Environment Canada earlier this morning for the North Coast including the Stewart area, with expectations of 15 centimetres through the morning easing by midday.

For the North Coast including Prince Rupert, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day will be relatively calm, with the rain of this morning giving way to cloudy skies with sunshine expected on Christmas Day.

A marine system is forming up off in the Pacific with a track to the
North Coast expected by Christmas Evening and Boxing Day

Things will change significantly however by the time you sit down to Christmas Dinner with a Pacific front making its way towards the North Coast bringing Rain and Strong winds to the coastal regions of the North Coast and the potential for snow along the Highway 16 corridor.

Rain and Strong winds continue through Boxing Day and on Friday, with rain in the forecast through the weekend ahead. And again, that could mean for snow in the inland regions of the Northwest

You can keep up to date with the weather through the Environment Canada website.

As the weather arrives road conditions across the Northwest can change quickly, you can keep track of the latest conditions through the Drive BC website and twitter feed.

You can also check the Ministry of Transportation Highway Cameras along the way, though a few of them particularly towards Terrace and in that city proper are currently no operating, making your travel planning a little hit and miss.

Already there is a Gale Warning in effect for the waters of Haida Gwaii and the North Coast.

With Winds increasing to 45 knots by Christmas Day, seas will build to 4 metres today and remain at 3 metres for much of the next 48 hours.

Should there be any significant weather warnings issued over the Christmas/Boxing Day period we will update the blog accordingly.

For notes on past weather events on the North Coast see our archive page here.