Summer arrives Tuesday bringing start to more seasonal weather

Monday marks the final day of spring, and while the weather around Metro Vancouver lately has been drabber than many are used to, things are soon set to change.

CityNews Meteorologist Michael Kuss says the weather is about to turn, but it’ll take a few days for that to happen.

“It’s been long overdue, that’s for sure. We’re still going to see temperatures at or below seasonal all the way through Wednesday, but by Thursday and into the upcoming weekend we’re looking at temperatures in at least the mid-20s away from the water and low-to-mid 20s close to the shore,” he explained.

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It’s a far cry from where Metro Vancouver – and much of B.C. – was just a year ago, when record temperatures swept across parts of the province, bringing deadly heat.

“Last year at this time we were already forecasting 40-degree temperatures,” said Kuss. “Remember the heat dome built starting on the 23rd of June and lasted through the 29th and 30th before it started to break and ease gradually. This year it is warming toward the 24th, 25th but not to those types of levels. We’ll be at or above seasonal finally by the end of the week and into the upcoming weekend.”

Rainy June

So far June has been a wet one. By June 14, Metro Vancouver had already received 63 millimetres of rain, according to Environment Canada senior Meteorologist Matt Loney.

“The average for the month is around 50 millimetres for June … based on the 30-year climate normal,” he told CityNews.

By that date, the region had had 11 days of rain.

Loney noted the main climate driver this spring was La Niña.

“We’ve seen these cooler than normal temperatures off the west coast of South America. And that, in turn, has induced some troughing over the Northeastern Pacific, which has influenced our weather,” he explained.

“The troughing has been around so long that the ocean temperatures haven’t warmed up. And so it’s become like its own self-perpetuating system.”