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.

December 2, 2025

Snowpack development across B.C. got off to a solid start in October, with early-season accumulations generally running slightly above normal. Through mid-November, snowpack growth tracked close to seasonal expectations before a period of dry, stable weather tempered further accumulation in late November. Looking ahead, a more active storm pattern is anticipated over the next 7 days, supporting renewed mountain snowfall.

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 79% of the period-of-record median for December 1, 2025 (2024: 114%). Stations within the Fraser River basin average 80% (2024: 108%). By December 1^st, on average, approximately one-quarter of the seasonal snowpack has typically accumulated.

Although the provincial average is slightly below normal, regional variability is substantial. As of December 1^st, the lowest ASWS basin averages occur in the Lower Fraser (31%), Vancouver Island (34%), and the South Coast (42%). The highest averages are observed in the Liard (124%), Lower Thompson (123%), Boundary (121%), and Nechako (115%) regions.

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

^{Based on this composite, the December 1st percentage of average is 83% (Nov 15th: 103%), placing current conditions at approximately the 19th percentile (Nov 15th: 59th percentile).}

A preliminary Snow Basin Index (SBI) map for December 1^st has also been produced. This version uses the average percent-of-median for all stations within each basin, including those with shorter periods of record. This differs from the formal SBI methodology used in the Snow Bulletins, which is based solely on stations with measurements in the 1991–2020 normal period and incorporates manual snow survey data.