Greater Victoria residents are putting down the golf clubs and picking up the snow shovels as a blast of winter weather grips Vancouver Island this week.
Snow began falling in parts of Greater Victoria Wednesday morning, with the white stuff expected to continue to fall right through the weekend.
“We are expecting around two centimetres today with more flurries off and on over the next couple days and possibly more on the weekend,” said Environment Canada meteorologist Bobby Sekhon.
There is also an arctic outflow warning for Greater Victoria with temperatures expected to dip down to -4 C overnight Wednesday and Thursday and the windchill reaching -10 C.
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“People should be prepared for winter weather and get their snow clearing equipment ready instead of having to go out and get it,” said Sekhon.
He said winter has kind of struck in reverse this year, with a milder start to the season before being hit with a blast of winter.
“People are ready for spring but they forget that February can be quite a cold month still.”
He said there was a similar situation in 2019 when temperatures dipped to -3 C and a total of 54 centimetres of snow fell at Victoria International Airport from Feb. 10 to 14. Snowfall records are not kept at the Gonzales weather station in Victoria which likely saw considerably less snow. The latest snow has fallen in the region is April 25, 1970, when 1.3 cm fell.
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Those who aren’t fans of the white stuff can expect things to get back to normal next week.
“The weekend will be a transitional period and we should return to more seasonal weather by the beginning of next week,” said Sekhon.
Normals for this time see highs of 8 C and lows of 2 C.
And those who thought winter was over for the year can take it up with Canada’s groundhogs who called for an early spring.
“I’m glad the groundhog is not threatening our jobs,” said Sekhon.
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