Snow conditions commentary

A bi-weekly commentary of snow conditions based on readings from the B.C. Automated Snow Weather Station (ASWS) network is published during the snow season. This is not the snow bulletin and the values listed are not the official snow basin indices. 

May 19, 2026

Hot weather at the start of May caused rapid melt of the mountain snowpack over the first 10 days of the month. Weather conditions shifted to cooler temperatures by mid-month and the pace of snowmelt slowed considerably.

A complete listing of Automated Snow Weather Stations (ASWS), expressed as a percent of the long-term median for each station’s entire period of record, is available in the ASWS Weekly Summary (PDF, 385 KB)*. Hyperlinks to interactive plots are provided for each station within the table.

Note: These values are not the official snow basin indices.

The provincial average across all ASWS sites is 95% of the period-of-record median for May 15, 2026, a decrease from 109% on May 1. Stations within the Fraser River basin average 83% (May 1: 99%). On average, by May 15th approximately one-quarter of the peak snowpack melts. This year, approximately 40% of the mountain snowpack melted by mid-May.

A provincial composite graph of automated stations with relatively long-term records (beginning in 1988) is provided below.

^{Based on this composite, the May 15th percentage of median is 81% (May 1: 104%), placing current conditions at approximately the 33rd percentile (May 1: 56th percentile).}   

The May 15, 2026 Snow and Water Supply Bulletin is scheduled to be released May 21st to 22nd, 2026, based on data availability. The bulletin will provide a more comprehensive summary of the May 15th snowpack conditions and will include the official Snow Basin Indices.