Summer has officially ended as Metro Vancouver is reacquainted with rainy weather, which is going to stick around according to the long-term forecast.
Photograph by: Les Bazso , PNG

It’s time to pack away the shorts and open an umbrella as storm clouds move across B.C. this weekend, a prelude to the three rainiest months of the year still ahead.

Environment Canada meteorologist John McIntyre confirmed Metro Vancouver’s 11-week dry spell — the driest August and September in more than a century — has come to an end, with “normal” temperatures, clouds and rain expected over the next week.

“Once that storm track comes in it’s hard to stop it,” McIntyre said Friday. “It will remain here until another high pressure ridge builds, and that gets more difficult as we get less sun and move into winter.”

The abnormally sunny fall was due to a high pressure ridge that continued from summer into fall and lingered until early October. Sadly (for sun-lovers), there’s nothing to indicate November will be abnormal as well — it is typically the rainiest month of the year, followed closely by December and January, said McIntyre.

The heaviest rain is expected overnight Saturday.

That has ICBC warning drivers to be cautious as the roads are expected to be extra slippery from both rain and the summer accumulation of oil and dirt on road surfaces.

gluymes@theprovince.com

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