With summer officially coming to an end this Friday, Sept. 22, the season is being ushered out with a wet, cool blast of fall-like weather along the south coast of B.C.
More rain fell over a 24-hour period in the Fraser Valley from Sept. 18 and 19, than had fallen in the previous two months combined, when heat and dry air dominated the region.
Environment Canada meteorologist Alyssa Charbonneau noted that from noon Monday, Sept. 18 to noon Tuesday, Sept. 19, a large (and welcome) amount of rain fell on the Valley, including 18.9 mm in Pitt Meadows, 14.8 mm in Coquitlam, 19 mm in White Rock, 17.3 mm on the North Shore, 11.2 mm in Abbotsford, and 18.6 mm in Langley.
And over a 48-hour time period ending at noon Sept. 19, Coquitlam had 39.6 mm of the wet stuff, and Langley had 22.2 mm of rainfall.
That’s in sharp contrast from a sizzling hot and dry July and August.
Charbonneau noted that Vancouver airport recorded 5.2 mm of rainfall last month, making it the seventh driest August on record.
The normal amount of rainfall for the month is 36.7 mm.
Abbotsford had a meagre 3.2 mm of rain in August, the second driest on record in that city.
Overall this summer, Vancouver has received 53.4 mm of rainfall, with most of the rain falling in early June.
“But if you were to strip June out and just look at July and August, then it is actually is the driest July and August on record for Vancouver,” Charbonneau said.
“And it’s the same story in Abbotsford. So if you look at the summer as a whole, it’s the second driest on record if you look at June, July, and August.”
The driest summer ever in Vancouver was recorded in 1951.
It was unusually hot in Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley, as well.
Vancouver’s average temperature in August was 19.2 degrees Celsius, with the normal being 18 degrees Celsius. This ranks as the second warmest August on record in Vancouver.
Abbotsford’s average temperature during the month was 19.8 degrees Celsius, 1.6 degrees warmer than average. This, too, makes it the second warmest August on record in Abbotsford.