Some warnings lifted after weather front blasts southern B.C. with rain and snow

VANCOUVER – Southern British Columbia is being hit with a wet and wintry weather front that has brought drenching rain to Metro Vancouver and triggered rainfall and snowfall warnings across parts of the province Tuesday.

Metro Vancouver is expecting up to 50 millimetres of rain, but a yellow rainfall warning is no longer in place for communities north of the Fraser River that also include Burnaby and Coquitlam.

Environment Canada issued yellow snowfall warnings for the Coquihalla Highway from Hope to Merritt, forecasting upwards of 30 centimetres of snow accumulating into Wednesday, making travel “challenging.”

The agency said earlier that a low snow level means communities at higher elevations, such as Burnaby Mountain, could see wet snow affecting roads, while the North Shore was expected to receive the heaviest precipitation.

The North Shore mountains all reported dumps of snow over the last 24 hours, with Grouse Mountain reporting 54 centimetres, Cypress reporting 20 centimetres and Mount Seymour reporting 38 centimetres over the period. 

The same system bringing rain to the Vancouver area also triggered warnings for snowfall on other routes including the Malahat Highway on Vancouver Island and the Sea to Sky Highway to Whistler, but those warnings were later lifted. 

But heavy snow is also expected further inland, with Highway 1 from Sicamous to Golden as well as Highway 3 from Grand Forks to Creston under warnings for up to 25 centimetres.

The same amount is in the forecast for the east Kootenay region near Fernie, with most of the precipitation warnings around B.C. set to last into Wednesday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 6, 2026.