Unseasonably warm temperatures will couple with strong winds and a decent amount of rain over the coming few days, part of a series of storms preparing to hit the region. (Image Credit: Dreamstime)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

wet and windy

‘The concern is duration:’ series of storms lining up to hit Nanaimo & Oceanside

Jan 27, 2026 | 12:06 PM

NANAIMO — A series of storms due to hit the region this week as the attention of forecasters.

Environment Canada is calling for rain and strong winds across a wide section of Vancouver Island, including Nanaimo and Oceanside, beginning Tuesday, Jan. 27 and continuing through until early next week.

Meteorologist Ken Dosanjh said systems will come in successive waves.

“Not overly strong or intense each one will be, but the main concern would be the duration aspect of it. It’s going to be a long period of wet and windy conditions on the order of around 72 hours…and so the concern is duration, more than precipitation intensity.”

Moderate to strong winds are expected to accompany around 70 millimetres of rainfall expected over a three-day period.

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Rainfall totals will be more on the west coast and into Port Alberni, while communities on the east coast can expect less.

Peak wind speeds and gusts are expected to stay between 30 to 70 kilometre per hour over the next few days, while temperatures are forecast to be four to eight degrees above normal for this time of year.

Gale warnings are possible for areas of the Strait of Georgia, particularly in northern communities.

It’s a mix which Dosanjh said is a sharp departure from only a few days ago, when a ridge of high pressure was blocking anything coming in from the Pacific, in exchange for frigid, dry air.

“That impulse that was acting as a shield has moved off and in replacement we are going to be bringing in these weather systems.”

He added these storms coming so quickly after a prolonged period of cold, dry conditions, could create issues on hardened ground.

“Because the ground is relatively frozen, we want to be mindful that the soils might be a little bit harder to really saturate and absorb. We do want to be mindful for…localized flooding, especially over the whole duration, there’s really not much of a break between these three weather impulses that we’ll be seeing.

The heaviest rainfall is expected to taper off by Friday, Jan. 30, but wet weather is expected to persist into early next week.

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