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Heavy snow forecast for Trail area this weekend

Heavy snow expected to cover Trail and surrounding areas this weekend
95705traildailytimesWEBWeather
Heavy snow expected throughout the region this weekend

A beast of a weather system is moving into the area this weekend, so be ready for what's forecasted to be the heaviest snow dump of the season.

Local weatherman Jesse Ellis says a mid-latitude or frontal cyclone is heading into the Kootenays, bringing  a snowfall by Sunday afternoon, that is expected to intensify throughout the night.

“Things are still changing with the latest guidances ramping up,” said Ellis. “There's an inkling that it may be heavier than expected – with snow in the eight to 15 centimetre range. Basically, double or triple what is currently on the ground.”

Temperatures are expected to remain a few degrees below freezing until Monday night.

After that, Greater Trail could experience another warming trend, noted Ellis. “By Tuesday a lot of big weather will have happened,” he said. “Anything later is low confidence. But Wednesday shows we are going into a warm southerly flow with a mix of snow and rain, or rain.”

The white new year followed a mostly mild December climate, and the first “true” green Christmas in 42 years.

“Due to the timing of events, but more so a result of the unseasonably mild temperatures, there was no snow at the Castlegar Airport on Dec. 25,” explained Ellis.

Other years (notably 2002) have been very close to experiencing a green Christmas, he said, adding that this was the first true occurrence since 1972.

The warmest day of the month was 6.3 C on Dec. 21, which doesn't near the record high 11.6 C from Dec. 27, 1980.

The overall precipitation, 95 millimetres, was average, although a new daily record maximum was set on Dec. 20, when 20 cm of combined rain and snow fell.



Sheri Regnier

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