At least one weather forecaster is predicting a cold snowy winter for the Lower Mainland, news that has local ski mountains cheering.
Arctic air coming down from the north, combined with another La Niña year could add up to one of the three coldest winters in two decades, the U.S.-based AccuWeather network is predicting.
Local ski mountains are already enthusiastically embracing the forecast. "Last year was a La Niña year. We saw over 45 feet of snow (compared to 30 feet in an average year)," said Joffrey Koeman, director of sales and marketing for Cypress Mountain. "We're looking forward to that again."
Last year's La Niña snow bonanza at higher altitudes allowed ski hills to open early in November and stay open right into April.
Some of the best snow conditions also happened after back-to-back La Niña years, said Koeman.
La Niña-the weather phenomenon driving the icy predictions-happens when sea surface temperatures in the Pacific fall below normal. It often results in cold weather during winter on the West Coast because of its influence on the jet stream.
Environment Canada hasn't come out with a similar prediction, although the organization's two-to four-month models are also predicting lower than normal temperatures. But not all meteorologists are convinced that La Niña means big snowfalls.
Environment Canada meteorologist David Jones is one of those who won't be rushing out to buy snowshoes and an extra shovel.
While a mild to moderate La Niña pattern does mean "the dice are loaded in favour of a colder winter," precipitation is much harder to predict with accuracy, he said.
"Can we tell you anything of value about what's going to happen?" he said. "For the most part, we can't."
West Coast weather can only usually be predicted five to nine days in advance, he said. "There's a mythology out there that we can tell you what the weather is going to be like this winter."
Jones said back-to-back La Niñas have happened about five times since 1950 and there is no discernible trend resulting in extremely low temperatures.
Last year's cold snap didn't really take effect until February, he said-but it lasted until June.
