Pair of atmospheric rivers forecast to hit BC coast this week

After months of dry conditions, British Columbians have been begging for some legitimate rainfall in recent weeks.

The precipitation has finally started to arrive, but the province could get a little more than it bargained for over the coming days.

The Weather Network (TWN) has forecast a pair of atmospheric rivers to hit the BC coast in the next week, which is the same type of storm that devastated the province last November.

“While beneficial rains are expected in some drought-stricken areas, too much rain too quickly could heighten the localized flood threat,” TWN explained.

“Steep terrain regions would also need to be on alert when atmospheric streams of moisture feed in both mid-week and this weekend.”

Precipitation is expected to start falling today, but the first of the back-to-back weather events will truly arrive along the north coast on Wednesday before sliding south on Thursday.

The second event is expected to arrive on the central coast this weekend before moving to the south coast by Sunday.

"These events are classified as atmospheric rivers not so much due to the duration of the event, but the high concentration of moisture located within them,” explained meteorologist Kelly Sonnenburg.

Citing the University of San Diego’s atmospheric river scale, TWN expects both storms to be a high-end AR1 or low-end AR2 event.

That means a mostly-beneficial storm, given the current drought conditions, that could be somewhat hazardous in some areas.

Areas expected to get more than 100 millimetres of rain across both storms include the north coast, parts of Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland.

For more information on the forecast, click this link.