It was a soaking wet November with 359 millimetres of rain falling on the Harbour City last month, marking the third wettest November on record locally. (Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Jordan Davidson

RECORD BREAKER

Record fall rains add another chapter to Nanaimo’s weather story

Dec 3, 2021 | 2:45 PM

NANAIMO —Fresh off the driest spring in Nanaimo’s history which then turned into the hottest summer on record, we can now add the wettest fall to the wild weather list of 2021.

Environment Canada recorded 619.8 millimetres of rain in September, October and November, about 181 per cent of average. The accumulation beat the previous 1983 record by about 10 millimetres.

Environment Canada meteorologist Armel Castellan said despite the multiple rainstorms we saw last month, November was a few millimetres shy of setting a monthly record.

“Nanaimo airport, for instance, saw 359 millimetres. The normal, average November is only 197 millimetres, so that’s 182 per cent above normal.”

It translates into the third wettest November for Nanaimo, with records going back to 1893.

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Areas on the north Island saw similar totals with Comox recording 136 per cent of normal precipitation, while Campbell River saw 127 per cent.

Castellan said the numbers are not as dramatic the further up the Island you go, as the southern half of the island and interior were hit harder by the storms and received more moisture.

Victoria saw closer to 300 per cent more than normal precipitation levels.

Places such as Abbotsford and Hope both broke their records for most precipitation in a 24 hour period last month, with 174 millimetres drenching Hope in one day, while Abbotsford saw 100.4 millimetres of precipitation.

He said while a lot of places across B.C. had a “one in a hundred years” weather event, climate change is going to make them much more common.

“As these atmospheric rivers are projected to get stronger, we could expect that one in a hundred year return period to actually diminish in time. So you could see a higher percentage chance of seeing that strong of an atmospheric river or even stronger as we go towards an even more altered climate in the coming decades.”

More heat being stored in the atmosphere leads to more moisture being stored as well, which leads to these types of events, according to Castellan.

Multiple temperature records were set across B.C. on Wednesday, Dec. 1, including in Nanaimo which broke a 1958 mark when the mercury reached 16.6 degrees.

“We’re definitely going back to a more cyclical normal pattern, Nanaimo included. I think we’re in for what is a more typical December weather at this point.”

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jordan@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @JordanDHeyNow