“The Columbia Mountains are the first major barrier to incoming moisture across British Columbia’s Interior Plateau. The northern Columbia’s which include the Monashees and the Selkriks receive some of Canada’s highest annual snowfall amounts.
The ideal atmospheric circulation for heavy snow to the Northern Selkirks is a west to southwest flow. This way moisture off the Pacific Ocean can sneak in between the South Coast Mountains and the Northern Cascades and remain relatively uninterrupted until encountering the Columbia Mountain Range. A southwesterly flow arrives perpendicular to the range and results in maximum orographic lifting. Western Canada’s weather pattern is predominantly from the west. This moisture laden southwesterly flow is thus very common, making heavy snowfall a regular occurrence in the Northern Selkirks.
