The snowpack in the Prince George area was higher than normal to start the year.
According to the BC River Forecast Centre’s first Snow Survey and Water Supply Bulletin of 2026, the snowpack in the Upper Fraser East basin was at 115 per cent of normal as of January 1st, while the Upper Fraser West was at 96 per cent of normal.
The provincial average came in at 107 per cent of normal.
“It is skewed a little bit by the south coast, particularly the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island which are there areas that were below normal, because in general, most of the rest of the province is above normal, and in some cases well above normal,” said BC River Forecast Centre Hydrologist Jonathan Boyd.
Boyd said this was because of a snowy December.
“November ended up being, since 1988, it essentially tied for the lowest snow accumulation at the 50 stations or so that have the long-term record,” he said.
“Then December hit and it ended up being the snowiest December from provincial distribution at high level mountain snowpack since 1988, so it’s the highest that we’ve measured.”
Boyd added this came from the atmospheric rivers that pounded the southern part of our province, which spilled over into the interior parts of B.C. and a substantial increase.
Coming back to the Prince George area, Boyd noted the numbers tend to skewer to the higher elevation side of things.
“It’s just because there is more data in the snow that does occur when flooding occurs, which typically would be May or June, like the lower elevation snow will usually melt by March or April,” he said.
He added they’re anticipating a higher February 1st number.
“The snow has continued to accumulate at just a little bit above a normal pace for the first half of the month,” Boyd said.
“We may actually lose a little bit of snow in the mountains as well, just because of how warm it is, not necessarily expecting any dramatic changes but certainly the valley bottom snow is melting on a quicker pace, if it still even exists.”
Boyd added that January 1st, usually around half of the snowpack of the season has occurred.
“Essentially there’s still another half of the season to go for accumulation, and of course things can change by the 15th, as of today, it’s usually about 60 per cent,” he said.
“What that means we are trending towards a higher snowpack than normal, which means that this bulletin is the first heads up for the Prince George area that the freshet in the spring could be a risk for flooding.”
Boyd added any actual flooding would depend on precipitation and temperatures in April, May and June.
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