Harold Zinke shovels snow downtown Chilliwack Monday afternoon.

Harold Zinke shovels snow downtown Chilliwack Monday afternoon.

UPDATE w/ VIDEO: Near record snow in Chilliwack this month

One more dump of the white stuff arrives but isn't forecast to last; last month was the snowiest February in 80 years




As February drew to a close Chilliwack residents had to be forgiven for being fed up with the snow.

Another unexpected dose of wintry weather hit Monday pushing the total snowfall for the month over 100 centimetres (cm).

While Environment Canada issued a snowfall warning Monday for the Fraser Valley west area including Abbotsford, Chilliwack was left out of that.

But light snowfall began at 8 a.m., which intensified as the day went on leading to a total amount of 13.6 cm, according to Roger Pannett, volunteer weather observer for Environment Canada.

That put the total for the month to 107.2 cm over seven days. With clear skies on Feb. 28 it was unlikely, however, the city would break the 80-year-old record of 115.3 cm in February 1937.

This latest snow comes at what should be the end of a staggering winter for weather in the Fraser Valley.

It began with a blast of snow in early December as nearly 50 cm fell halfway through the month, according to Pannett.

Then the February to remember kicked off with light snow on Feb. 3 that just never stopped. By the end of that day nearly 20 cm had already fallen, and it didn’t stop. Pannett noted that on three days the city had surpassed the February snowfall average of 17 cm.

Then came the ice.

By Feb. 9 the city was crippled with nearly 30 mm of freezing rain that left power lines, trees and some structures downed in the storm.

Chilliwack Progress