Heavy rain and snow pummel parts of British Columbia

Heavy rain pummels coast

Photo: The Canadian Press

Stormy weather in large parts of northern British Columbia has triggered a number of weather warnings in the region ranging from high winds and heavy snowfall to freezing rain. Icicles are shown following an accumulation of freezing rain in Montreal, Wednesday, April 5, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes

Stormy weather in British Columbia dropped more than 200 millimetres of rain on parts of the central coast and more than 70 centimetres of snow near the Alaska Panhandle.

Environment Canada says the winter storm that struck parts of central and northern B.C. over the weekend dumped 245 mm of rain on the Addenbroke Lighthouse about 100 kilometres north of Port Hardy, while 209 mm fell at Bella Bella's airport.

The wintry weather also dropped 73 cm of snow on Stewart, on the province's border with Alaska.

The weather agency issued, and later lifted, a number of warnings in northern B.C. on Monday

A winter storm warning for Stewart and nearby areas, predicted up to 15 cm of more snow Monday morning.

Further south, a stretch of the north coast including Prince Rupert was expecting almost 150 mm of rainfall, in addition to gusts reaching 100 km/h.

In the northern B.C. Interior, freezing rain warnings were in place for the Bulkley Valley in communities such as Smithers and Burns Lake, as well as for much of the Peace region stretching from Tumbler Ridge and Dawson Creek to Fort St. John and Fort Nelson.

The agency has issued a number of snowfall warnings on both sides of the B.C.-Yukon boundary as well as for the South Klondike Highway leading to Skagway, Alaska.

The weather agency says areas closer to the coast will see up to 25 cm of accumulation, with as much as 50 cm further inland.