STAY CONNECTED: Have the stories that matter most delivered every night to your email inbox. Subscribe to our daily local news wrap.

After a soggy fall, winter has officially arrived on the mid-island

Dec 21, 2016 | 10:26 AM

NANAIMO – It feels like it’s been here for weeks, but winter officially arrived at 2:44 a.m. Wednesday.

For Environment Canada though, winter begins on Dec. 1 and forecaster Armel Castellan was not surprised with the chilly start to the month. He says the La Nina weather phenomenon was a big factor.

“Already in November we saw that December was probably going to be colder than normal,” said Castellan. “And sure enough with that came the wintry conditions with the snow and more snow than normally, typically Nanaimo sees.”

The snow and cold come on the heels of a very soggy fall according to Castellan.

“We saw 580 millimetres where the average is 342,” he said. “So, 170 per cent of normal brings it to the second wettest. And those records date from 1892.”

Environment Canada records show this past November was the 5th warmest ever and Castellan says the soggy conditions in the fall were a factor in the amount of snow we’ve had so far.

“Since about the 5th, when we started going into not just minus .5 C, but minus 3 C, minus 5 C even minus 9.5 C through the month, that’s when the snow started to really fly,” said Castellan. “At this point, it’s still an unofficial record but it’s upwards of 40 centimetres for the month so far.”

Average precipitation in December is 184.3 millimetres with 10 per cent of it snowfall. With the snow so far, Castellan says 2016 could end up among the top 15 snowiest Decembers ever.