nanb

Four years at Fodors and my first time to the Canada site , and I am going to ask one of the "no-no" questions. Please forgive me.
At least I will not ask you all what I should or should not wear

I am thinking of heading West next year for a trip to Vancouver Island.
all of june to mid July is out as we have school graduation and a trip overseas to Europe planned.

I live in Vermont and in September the weather can be either really beautiful here or already really cold and rainy.

Does anyone have any advice on what I could expect if I visited Vancouver Island in mid -september weather wise?

How about May? Where I live, we can still have frost and snow so I certainly don't want more of that .

I was last there over 30 yrs ago, and I am definitely overdue for a visit!

thank you !!!

Judy_in_Calgary

According to the Weather Underground website, Victoria's average high temperature in September is 66 deg F, and its average low temperature for the month is 47 deg F. The average rainfall over the month of September is 1 inch.

I picked an arbitrary date that I guessed might fall towards the end of your stay, namely, September 22nd. The website showed statistics for that date from 1996 through 2003.

The coolest September 22nd in that year range was 1996, when the high was 57 deg F and the low was 41 deg F. The warmest September 22nd was in 2001 when the high was 73 deg F and the low was 55 deg F.

In May the average high is 61 deg F, and the average low is 44 deg F. Again the average monthly rainfall is 1 inch.

For statistics going back to 1996, I picked the arbitrary date of May 7th. The coolest May 7th in that year range occurred in 2002, when the maximum temperature was 53 deg F and the minimum temperature was 33 deg F. The warmest May 7th was in 1998, when the high was 60 deg F and the low was 48 deg F.

Because Victoria is at the southern and warmest end of Vancouver Island, I also looked up climate data for Tofino, which is about half way up the island's west coast.

Tofino's information comes from The Weather Network. In May the average high is 57 deg F and the average low is 43 deg F. The average monthly rainfall is 6 inches.

In September the average high is 63 deg F and the average low is 55 deg F. The average monthly rainfall is 6 inches.

I didn't find Tofino's statistics for individual dates. However, The Weather Network indicates that Tofino's average snowfall from May through October is 0 inches, so I'm guessing those months are free of frost.

Hope that helps.

taggie

nanb - in May in Victoria you're more likely to get some rain showers. However, it will be green and blossoms will be out (some will be finished by then). September will be warmer and almost certainly drier, but not as green. The lawns go dormant and because of watering restrictions the grass can get quite brown. Either time is a nice time to visit Victoria.

April

There's no telling about the weather. This year and for the past few, it has been so dry that Victoria hardly looks like 'the garden city' of yesteryear. True, May would be greener (Butchart Gardens might be nicer?), although many of the spring blossoming trees would be finished by then, but May and June in Victoria are often quite chilly, windy and wet. September could very well be the same but I still prefer it. Frost could happen at either time but would be unusual.

Carmanah

Just a random comment, but the last time I visited Victoria (which was the first week of February, 2003 - Chinese New Year), the cherry and plum blossoms were in full bloom.

Vancouver Island as a whole is mild, but it is in a rain forest zone, so expect some precipitation - lots on the west coast and less on the east coast.

nanb

Thank you ! Thank you ! Thank you!
I have just received 4 really great replies here

Judy, thanks for all that searching work for me.I had forgotten the name of that site. I know it has been mentioned on the Europe site a few times.

It sounds to me as if September may be the overall nicer of the two months.
but, I bet Vancouver Island is a blast (no matter which month .
(at least that is what I got from reading the threads , doingt a search earlier)

again, thank you!!!