Climate of Vancouver

Its summer months are typically dry and modestly warm, while the rest of the year is rainy, especially between October and March.

Greater Vancouver is in USDA plant hardiness zone 8,[2] similar to other coastal or near-coastal cities such as Seattle, Portland, Amsterdam, and London, as well as places such as Dallas, Texas and Raleigh, North Carolina, far to the south (however, these locations have far more growing degree days due to their hot summers).

[3] Despite normally semi-mild winters (for its latitude) due to the onshore air flow over the North Pacific Current, occasional cold squamish or Arctic outflow (sinking cold continental air that flows down through the Fraser Valley coastward) in winter can sometimes last a week or more.

The arrival of spring is often first noticed in late February with slightly milder temperatures and the return of flowering perennials.

The relatively high latitude of 49° 15′ 0″ N (similar to Paris, France, at 48° 85′ 66″) means sunsets as early as 4:10 pm and sunrises as late as 8:12 am.

From November to February, at the sunshine measuring station at the airport in Richmond, on average more than 70% of the already short daytime is completely cloudy.

The percentage of cloudiness is higher in Vancouver and especially the North Shore because upslope winds going up the mountainsides lead to the development of clouds.

While fleeting, summers, in contrast, are characterized by a nearly opposite weather pattern, with consistent high pressure and sunshine.

Near the summer solstice, there are less than 8 hours between sunset and sunrise, which in combination with most of British Columbia observing daylight savings time means that civil twilight can last past 10 pm.

[35][33][dead link‍] Snow in Vancouver tends to be quite wet, which, combined with typical winter temperatures rising above and falling below 0 °C (32 °F) throughout the course of the day, can make for icy road conditions.

Although the 30–60 cm (12–24 in) which fell across Greater Vancouver and the Lower Mainland in a 24‑hour period in November 2006[38] was out of the ordinary, snow has in fact accumulated at sea level in all months except for June, July, and August.

However, even small amounts of snow in the Vancouver area can cause school closures, as well as produce traffic problems.

The low frequency of snowfall makes it hard to justify the public works infrastructure necessary for more effective snow removal, as the city is usually in a thaw situation long before plowing of streets are completed.

Despite higher frequency of snow during certain periods of the season (pattern unknown), generally, annual winter snowfall has decreased over the last 20 years.

Three wind storms in the city's history have knocked down large swathes of trees in the forest of Stanley Park, the first having occurred in October 1934, with a blizzard the following January compounding its impact.

[42] The second wind storm to hit Stanley Park was the remnant of Typhoon Freda in 1962 that levelled a 2.4-hectare (6-acre) tract of forest.