An atmospheric river is blasting BC with snow, wind & up to 250 mm of rain
Flood watches and weather warnings are in place for much of Vancouver Island and the central coast.
Police car drives through flooded downtown Vancouver on November 17, 2019.
Parts of British Columbia are now under flood watches as an atmospheric river arrives along the coast, triggering a string of weather warnings and watches.
The B.C. River Forecast Centre says northern and western Vancouver Island and the central coast are now under flood watch, with rising temperatures expected to create snowmelt that will add to the heavy rain.
High-streamflow advisories are in place for the southern B.C. coast, including Metro Vancouver, Greater Victoria, eastern Vancouver Island, the North Coast and the upper Fraser region, encompassing Prince George.
At higher elevations, the system is expected to generate heavy snow, with Environment Canada issuing a winter storm warning for the ski resort community of Whistler and sections of the Sea to Sky Highway.
Up to 20 centimetres of snow is expected to fall before it turns to rain later Monday, while winter storm warnings are also in place for the inland portions of the northern and central coasts.
The weather office says the atmospheric river is expected to bring up to 250 millimetres of rain to some areas by Wednesday, and warnings, ranging from rain to wind and snowfall, cover much of Vancouver Island, the Howe Sound, the North Shore of Metro Vancouver, the Fraser Canyon, the Okanagan and central Interior from Williams Lake to Prince George.
Wind gusts of up to 90 kilometres an hour are forecast for the Fraser Canyon and the Chilcotin regions, while travel on Highway 16 toward the Alberta boundary and Highway 97 through northeastern B.C. will be hampered by snowfall.
The River Forecast centre says the flood risks in the coastal regions of B.C. are likely to rise as the atmospheric river moves across the province throughout the week.
"Current forecasts indicate that multiple pulses of precipitation may impact the region through early to mid-week," the flood watch advisory for the central coast says.
Rain totals from Sunday through Wednesday will range from 100 to 200 millimetres for many coastal locations, including Prince Rupert, Kitimat, Bella Bella, Bella Coola, and Kingcome Inlet, the advisory says.
"The combination of increasing rainfall intensity and rising freezing levels into Monday is expected to increase run-off across the region, particularly in the central Coast where the heaviest precipitation is forecast."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 16, 2026.
This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.