Rainfall records broken in 17 B.C. communities Saturday

People are silhouetted as they use umbrellas to shield themselves from the rain on the boardwalk overlooking the Steveston Fisherman's Wharf, in Richmond, B.C., on Monday, July 24, 2023. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press)

Much of southern B.C. got soaked with heavy rain and thunderstorms late Friday to early Saturday, and in more than a dozen communities, record-breakingly so, according to data from Environment and Climate Change Canada.

The federal weather agency issued a rainfall warning for the Lower Mainland and a severe thunderstorm watch for the southern Interior on Friday, as a low pressure system moved through the province bringing heavy rain and strong wind gusts through the night.

As a result, 17 cities and towns saw the most precipitation of any other Aug. 24 on record.

Vancouver was among the places where records broke, where 26.7 millimetres of rain fell, beating the old record of 17.6 millimetres in 2008. Abbotsford, Pitt Meadows and White Rock also broke their daily precipitation records.

The highest rainfall amount was recorded in Agassiz, where 57.5 millimetres fell, surpassing the previous high of 36 millimetres set in 2004.

The longest-standing record that fell was in Princeton, which got 35.1 millimetres of rain, far exceeding its old record of 14.2 millimetres that stood for 117 years, since 1907.

The strongest wind gust during the weather event was in Rossland in the West Kootenay region, where a 102 km/h gust was recorded.

Recent rain and cooler temperatures have been welcome on the wildfire front, helping firefighters move bigger blazes into the “being held” or “under control” stages.

“Lower fire activity in the south is helping crew efforts with mop up, but danger tree hazards remain,” the BC Wildfire Service wrote in its daily situation update Sunday.

Just five fires started in the past 24 hours, according to the BCWS dashboard, and 11 were declared out. There are currently 311 active fires in the province, and just over a quarter of them are classified as out-of-control.

The full list of daily precipitation records broken, in millimetres, Saturday follows below:

• 100 Mile House: New record: 9.0, old record: 7.4 set in 1995
• Abbotsford: New record: 39.5, old record: 26.0 set in 2008
• Agassiz: New record: 57.5, old record: 36.0 set in 2004
• Blue River: New record: 28.7, old record: 17.5 set in 1963
• Cache Creek: New record: 21.6, old record: 16.0 set in 1965
• Clearwater: New record: 20.5, old record: 11.4 set in 1963
• Hope: New record: 37.0, old record: 18.0 set in 2004
• Kamloops: New record: 24.9, old record: 18.5 set in 1965
• Lytton: New record: 34.7, old record: 12.2 set in 1954
• Merritt: New record: 28.6, old record: 4.8 set in 2004
• Osoyoos: New record: 15.8, old record: 11.8 set in 1983
• Pemberton: New record: 24.9, old record: 23.5 set in 2008
• Pitt Meadows: New record: 40.1, old record: 35.1 set in 1977
• Princeton: New record: 35.1, old record: 14.2 set in 1907
• Vancouver: New record: 26.7, old record: 17.6 set in 2008
• White Rock: New record: 49.2, old record: 29.7 set in 1977
• Yoho National Park: New record: 23.1, old record: 17.0 set in 1941