Snowpack levels in the Prince George area are well below normal for this time of year.
According to the BC River Forecast Centre, the snowpack in the Upper Fraser West is 35 per cent of normal for this time of year, while the Upper Fraser East is at 63 per cent.
However, BC River Forecast Centre Hydrologist Jonathan Boyd noted these numbers were recorded on January 1st, prior to Prince George’s first big dump of snow of the season, and there’s been some changes since then.
“The Upper Fraser East has dropped a little bit, the Upper Fraser West has bumped up a little bit, an area like the Nechako (84 per cent) has dropped a little bit,” he explained.
“Although there was snowfall, especially potentially in that lower elevation side of things, it hasn’t necessarily shown up in the mountainside.”
Boyd said the province as a whole is averaging 56 per cent of normal snow pack for this time of year.
To get back to normal, Boyd said there will need to be significantly above normal snowfall through March.
“It’s not necessarily out of the question to get back to normal, I think it’s highly unlikely to end up in a situation where the April 1st or May 1st is at above normal snowpack,” he said.
“It’s going to take a lot of snow to just get back to normal, it is possible, it will require a number of storms, and that’s just how the snowpack develops, it doesn’t go up the same amount every day for one month straight, it’s really these blocks of heavy precipitation, heavy snowstorm events that come through.”
Up to 15 to 20 centimetres of snow is expected to fall in the Prince George area today.
Environment Canada’s seven-day forecast also shows a chance of flurries or snow from Friday to Monday.