Does it always rain in British Columbia? Is it always cloudy?

Question

I'm think about going to college in southern British Columbia, but I'm worried about whether I'll like the weather.

Answer 1

Well I live just outside of Vancouver, BC and we get all kinds of weather. This is the craziest start to summer there has been, as the highs have only been 20 Deg, and it's been rainy, and cold. Most summers we do get up to 35 Deg though. In the winter we get snow, not us much here as if you were to go to the Kootenay area though, but we do get some. We do get alot of rain, and it does get cloudy alot, but we also do get really nice weather too.

Edit - I live in Langley :) Today it is a little mugy, cloudy, but warm, I heard it's supposed to rain all day tomorrow though :(

Answer 2

The weather is very mild, as it's "between" the pacific ocean and the rocky mountains. Because of that, they do get quite a bit of rain, but there are sunny days as well. It's thanks to that weather that they have extraordinary fauna.

Answer 3

what area of southern bc will you be in?? vancouver and are are pretty rainy but not always. If you're talking the okanagan than no it's typically not rainy. the okanagan has a great climate, warm in the summer, cold in the winter but not too cold and not too much snow, and it rarely rains to excess.

Answer 4

First of all.... do you mean the Vancouver region? Because the weather and weather patterns varies a lot even a few hours from Vancouver, or on Vancouver Island. As for Vancouver, while it does rain a lot there, it definitely isn't every day. In the winter you can expect gray skies for a few weeks at a time, even rainy days for a few weeks at a time, but spring is gorgeous and summer is even better, sometimes with no rain at all.

Here are some actual stats on the number of rainy days, the link also shows average temperature and precipitation hours, plus lots of other details.

"Although popularly thought of as being a rainy city, Vancouver has only 166 days per year with measurable precipitation on average, and 289 days with measurable sunshine. Nonetheless, from November until March, it is not uncommon for there to be 20 consecutive days with some amount of rain. The weather pattern known as the Pineapple Express often brings warm rainstorms in the winter."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_of_...

Answer 5

You'll be like the rest of us.  We love it when its sunny and complain like crazy when its raining.  And when its raining we say its always raining.  And when its sunny, we say its too hot.  A temperature that doesn't usually go below 6C makes up for the rain, because when we have that weather, the rest of Canada is -20 to -40C and covered with snow!  You can pretty much guarantee November will be all rain and August will be all sun - (I'm talking Vancouver).  The rest of the time its a mix.   The summer rains are warm and its actually quite beautiful.  The winter rains can be bone-chilling if you don't dress for it.  The interior is a whole different ball park as far as weather.

Answer 6

Of course it doesn't allways rain in BC the weather can be quite beautiful actually. visit the weathernetwork.ca.

Answer 7

Depending on where you are from BC's weather can sometimes get to you although the winters are usually pretty mild with little snow or sun-zero temperatures to worry about.  Yes, BC does get rain in the northern coastal areas and along the entire coast but not excessively.  The weather is actually quite healthy and yes, the summers can be very hot and sunny.  I wouldn't want to live anywhere else.

Answer 8

Yeah it rains all the bloody time. Except in the summer. But other than that it's rain rain rain. You get used to it quickly though. I don't even notice it anymore.

Answer 9

August seems to be the only relatively dry month. I've been there a few times and while the scenery is lovely the people were exceptionally cranky and kind of militant about rules. Blame the rain, I guess.

Answer 10

The closer to the mountains you are in the areas around Vancouver, the more rain you're going to get. The winter gets the most rain, and the summers are pretty reasonable. Less rain here believe it or not in July and August compared to most of the rest of Canada.

For example, Downtown Vancouver gets about 1300mm of rain a year, the North Shore and areas such as Port Moody and Maple Ridge being so close to the mountains get even more than that. (The mountains force the clouds to drop most of their moisture before they can pass over - "orographic rainfall.")

If you take Southeastern Vancouver Island (Nanaimo, Victoria) and the Gulf Islands for instance, they don't see more than about 900mm of rain a year, as they're in the rain shadow a little from the Vancouver Island mountains. The mountains of VI force much of the rain from the pacific to fall on VI's west coast. For example, Tofino on Vancouver Island's west coast gets about 3300mm of rain a year.

If you don't want the rain, perhaps you'd like to consider a school in Victoria or Nanaimo? You may find it more manageable weather wise.

Also, Langley gets about 1500mm of precipitation a year.

Another thing too is that I don't think it rains nearly as often as people think it does. Quite often it will be cloudy and the roads will be wet, but it won't be raining. But somehow people will remember that it was raining. Even if it was only part of the day that it was raining. What gets people more is that it is cloudy so often in the winter. The cloudiness isn't so bad in the spring and fall, and in the summer there's lots of sunshine.

Doing my job of making deliveries around the Greater Vancouver area, I quite often notice in the winter time how it'll be cloudy overhead, but looking over the ocean towards Victoria, there'll be sunshine down there. Quite often, too often even. There are no big mountains down that way to catch and hold up the clouds.