Frigid winter in B.C. could be ending next week, says forecaster

To paraphrase Game of Thrones, winter is going.

Environment Canada meteorologist Armel Castellan says all regions of British Columbia should see weather beginning to return to normal 30-year average temperatures by the end of the weekend.

"It's kind of starting now, actually on the North Coast, and then it's going to kinda make its way south and then move inland through the start of this coming week," he said.

"We're shifting from northwest flow, kinda bringing that Arctic pipeline of cold air from the Interior to the coast this larger pattern shift is going to bring temperatures back up to what's normal."

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Castellan says Vancouver temperatures should rise to about 10 Cbymid-to-late nextweek.

Victoria could see temperatures get up to about eight degrees by the end of the week, while Prince George could see temperatures rise to 3 C and Kelowna will rise to 7 C.

Castellan says those temperatures should last for at least a week, perhaps as long as 10 days.

"We might see them drop again to the very end of the month in places like the Interior," he said.

But is this the end of winter?

"It is certainly for the time being, but it's not impossible in February or at the very end of this month to see a dip in temperatures and get another little blast of Arctic air," Castellan said.

"But what I think will be different in this case is in the coming weeks is if that happens, it won't [last] for five, six, seven weeks like we saw for the better part of the last month and a half."