Welcome to the First Day of Winter!

 

The calendar says today is the First Day of Winter but
the photo above marks the real arrival date in Prince Rupert for 2021. 
Which was earlier this month on December 7

While we've already been in a strong winter mindset for most of this month, the calendar makes it official today, Welcome to the First Day of Winter.

The Winter Solstice has arrived marking the longest night of the year, so the days ahead will slowly bring more daylight, though we may be peering between snowflakes to see the sky.

As the snowbanks can attest, we've been in embrace of the winter season for a while now and as this first day of the Winter Season continues forward, we'll be adding to the snow totals and watching the weather warnings east as the travel days of the Christmas period move into their peak transit.

The first of the flurries arrived on December 7th and since that day, it's been a near non stop period of snow shovelling and salting of driveways, sidewalks and such, combined with some extensive winter fun at any patch of space with a downhill slope that can make for sledding run.

And the winter weather will continue on, with no indication of the warming Pacific breezes and more traditional rain of the North Coast in sight through to beyond New Year's Day.

The Forecast through to the day after Boxing Day
click to enlarge

Last minute Christmas Shoppers may want to add some toques, gloves and long underwear to any list, with a Deep Freeze coming our way over the holiday period. 

Depending on your weather forecaster of choice, the daily highs of December 25 to 29 will range from -9 to -12 ...

We'll see a fair bit of sun over the holidays, but 
baby, it's going to be cold outside!

On a shorter timeline, we will be back to shovelling today, with snow at times mixed with rain anticipated to arrive mid-morning and continue through the day into the evening, anticipated snowfall total for today is around 15cm.

You can access the full weather forecast for the days ahead here.

For those making travel plans to the east, the North Coast inland areas are currently under a Snowfall Warning with up to 20 cm of snow expected to arrive through to this evening.

Snowfall Warning for North Coast Inland
click to enlarge

So far the Drive BC highway cameras show Highway 16 clear but with compact snow/ice from Prince Rupert to Terrace, with no snow falling to this point.

Rainbow Summit at 8:45 AM

Kwinitsa at 8:45 AM

The Terrace Round-a-bout at 8:45 AM

You can access the Drive BC updates from their website and Twitter Feed.

To review some of our weather of the last month see our archive page here.