Burnaby · British Columbia · 2026–27 season
Snow Day Predictor BurnabyWill school be cancelled tomorrow in Burnaby?
Live overnight forecast for the City of Burnaby, including Metrotown, Brentwood, Lougheed, Edmonds, and the SFU campus on Burnaby Mountain. The predictor tunes to Burnaby School District #41 closure patterns, with a separate read for New Westminster SD #40 and the Conseil scolaire francophone.
Multi-model forecast, five-factor closure engine, province-aware results. No sign-up, no tracking of your queries.
What makes Burnaby unique
Burnaby SD #41 sits between Vancouver and the Fraser Valley, with significant elevation contrast between Burnaby Mountain and the riverside lowlands. The result is a city where the same storm can drop wet snow on Metrotown and dry snow on SFU.
Lower Mainland forecast
Burnaby snow day forecast, what to expect this winter
Burnaby occupies a 90 square kilometre stretch of the Lower Mainland between Vancouver to the west and Coquitlam to the east, with the Burrard Inlet on its north shore and the Fraser River on its south. The city is unusual in the region for how much elevation it packs into a small footprint. Burnaby Mountain rises to roughly 370 metres at the Simon Fraser University campus, while the Edmonds and Big Bend neighbourhoods sit near sea level along the Fraser. That 350-metre vertical spread is enough to change rain into snow on the same morning, which is why a single storm can leave Metrotown wet and SFU buried.
Schools in Burnaby are run primarily by Burnaby School District #41, one of the larger districts in British Columbia with roughly 25,000 students across more than 40 elementary and secondary schools. The neighbouring New Westminster School District #40 shares boundaries along the Burnaby-New Westminster line and coordinates closely with SD #41 on weather days, though each board makes its own call. The Conseil scolaire francophone (SD #93) operates French-language schools across the Lower Mainland, including in Burnaby, and decides independently. All three boards make their morning weather calls by 6:00 am.
Closure decisions in Burnaby hinge on the same set of variables that shape every Lower Mainland winter: how much moisture a Pacific atmospheric river is pulling north, whether Arctic outflow is spilling through the Fraser Valley, and where the freezing level sits relative to the mountain. The forecast on this page reads the overnight model output for your exact coordinates rather than averaging across the city, which matters in Burnaby more than in almost any other BC municipality because the same model run can produce rain at 50 metres and snow at 300.
School boards
Burnaby school boards we model
The boards and transportation operators that make the morning closure call for Burnaby.
- Burnaby School District #41
Primary public school district serving the City of Burnaby with roughly 25,000 students. SD #41 makes its closure call by 6:00 am and announces through district channels and local radio.
- New Westminster School District #40
Adjacent district sharing the southeast Burnaby boundary. Coordinates closely with SD #41 on weather days though decisions are made independently; closures often align but not always.
- Conseil scolaire francophone (SD #93)
French-language public school board serving the entire province, including Burnaby. Operates a separate transportation network and may make a different call on the same morning.
Bus transportation
Burnaby School District #41 has limited yellow-bus service compared with suburban districts because most students walk or use TransLink buses and SkyTrain. SD #41 contracts transportation when needed for specialty programs and accessibility routes. Closure decisions are made independently by each board by 6:00 am and announced through district websites, local radio, and TransLink advisories for connecting service.
Local weather
Burnaby’s signature winter weather patterns
The phenomena that produce most Burnaby snow days.
- Pacific atmospheric river events
Long plumes of subtropical moisture aimed at the BC coast. In Burnaby these usually arrive as heavy rain, but when an Arctic airmass is already in place the leading edge produces 10-20 cm of wet snow before changing over. The November-to-January window is the peak risk.
- Burnaby Mountain elevation enhancement
The 370-metre rise to the SFU campus is enough to push the freezing level above ground at the summit while the rest of the city stays above. Simon Fraser University often sees measurable snow when downtown Vancouver and Metrotown see only rain. SFU has its own closure threshold for this reason.
- Cold-air drainage along the Burrard Inlet
Cold air pools at the surface along the inlet on clear nights with light winds, lowering overnight temperatures in North Burnaby (Capitol Hill, Westridge) by 2-4 °C compared with the Metrotown ridge. The same overnight snowfall can stick north of Hastings Street and melt south of it.
- Arctic outflow through the Fraser Valley
When a high-pressure system parks over the BC interior, cold air drains down the Fraser Valley and pushes into Burnaby from the east. Wind chills near −20 °C are possible, and any precipitation that arrives during outflow falls as dry, powdery snow rather than the usual coastal wet snow.
- Freezing rain in the transition zone
When Arctic air retreats and Pacific moisture moves in, the transition often passes through Burnaby as freezing rain. Even 1-2 mm glazes roads, sidewalks, and the steep approaches up Burnaby Mountain, and is a more common closure trigger than snow itself.
History
Notable Burnaby snow days in recent winters
Storms and ice events that shaped how Burnaby school boards approach the morning call.
Lower Mainland snowstorm
December 17-20, 2008A multi-day Arctic outflow event combined with Pacific moisture dropped 30-40 cm of snow across Burnaby, with deeper totals on Burnaby Mountain. SD #41 and SD #40 closed schools for several days running. SFU suspended in-person operations. The benchmark modern Burnaby snow event.
January 2020 Lower Mainland snow event
January 6-7, 2020A coastal trough delivered roughly 30 cm of snow to Burnaby in under 24 hours. SD #41 closed schools, TransLink suspended trolley buses, and SkyTrain ran on reduced frequency. SFU shut down the Burnaby Mountain campus.
November 2022 Lower Mainland snow
November 14, 2022An early-season snowfall caught the region before crews had completed seasonal preparation. SD #41 and SD #40 both cancelled school. The storm is cited as the trigger for SD #41 updating its winter operations communication plan.
December 2022 Arctic outflow event
December 18-23, 2022A prolonged Arctic outflow brought wind chills near −25 °C and 15-20 cm of dry snow to Burnaby in the lead-up to the holiday break. SD #41 closed schools for the final week before winter recess. The event ended with a freezing-rain transition that glazed every road in the city.
February 2019 Lower Mainland snow week
February 11-15, 2019A series of frontal passages delivered 20-25 cm of cumulative snow to Burnaby across a single week, with SD #41 cancelling buses on multiple days and closing schools fully on February 11. The SFU campus saw consistently deeper accumulation than the rest of the city through the entire stretch.
January 2012 snow and ice event
January 15, 2012A storm transitioned from snow to freezing rain across Burnaby through the morning commute, closing schools across SD #41 and SD #40. The mountain approaches to SFU were closed by RCMP for several hours.
FAQ
Burnaby snow day frequently asked questions
The 7 questions Burnaby parents and teachers ask us most.
Will Burnaby SD #41 close tomorrow?
Type your Burnaby postal code or "Burnaby, British Columbia" into the predictor above to get tonight's probability. Burnaby School District #41 announces closures by 6:00 am the morning of through its district website, district social channels, and local radio. The predictor reads the same overnight forecast models the SD #41 superintendent's team uses, tuned to historical closure thresholds for the Lower Mainland.
Why does SFU often get snow while Metrotown gets rain?
Simon Fraser University sits at roughly 370 metres of elevation on Burnaby Mountain, while Metrotown sits near 90 metres. In most Lower Mainland storms the freezing level sits between those two heights, which means the same precipitation falls as snow at SFU and as rain in Metrotown. SFU often closes or shifts to remote operations on days when Burnaby SD #41 schools at lower elevations remain open.
How does Burnaby Mountain affect local weather?
Burnaby Mountain forces incoming Pacific airmasses to rise, cooling them and squeezing out additional precipitation on the windward side. The Burnaby Mountain Conservation Area and the SFU campus consistently record higher snowfall totals than the rest of the city. The mountain also creates a rain shadow on its lee side during westerly flow, slightly reducing precipitation in parts of North Burnaby. Roads up the mountain, including Gaglardi Way and Burnaby Mountain Parkway, are the first to close in winter.
Will school be cancelled in North Burnaby or South Burnaby tomorrow?
Burnaby School District #41 makes a single city-wide closure decision, so North Burnaby (Capitol Hill, Westridge, Burnaby Heights), Central Burnaby (Brentwood, Lougheed), and South Burnaby (Metrotown, Edmonds, Big Bend) close or stay open together. That said, conditions can vary sharply across the city due to elevation and cold-air drainage along the Burrard Inlet, so enter your specific postal code to get the local forecast.
Does New Westminster SD #40 always close with Burnaby?
No. SD #40 and SD #41 share a long boundary along the Burnaby-New Westminster line and coordinate closely on weather, but each district makes its own call. In most major events both close together. In marginal events, especially freezing-rain transitions, one district may close while the other does not. The predictor returns probabilities for each board separately so you can plan if your household splits across the boundary.
How is Burnaby snow different from Vancouver or Coquitlam?
Burnaby sits between Vancouver to the west and Coquitlam to the east, with more elevation contrast than Vancouver and less than Coquitlam. A storm that produces 5 cm at the Vancouver waterfront may produce 10 cm at Metrotown, 20 cm at SFU, and 25 cm in the Coquitlam highlands. Burnaby also feels Arctic outflow from the Fraser Valley more strongly than Vancouver, which sits further west and is buffered by the Strait of Georgia.
How does the Burrard Inlet affect Burnaby winters?
The Burrard Inlet moderates temperatures along the North Burnaby shoreline through most of the winter, keeping the immediate waterfront warmer than inland Burnaby. On clear, calm nights, though, cold air drains off the surrounding slopes and pools along the inlet, briefly reversing that pattern and producing some of the coldest readings in the city. The Capitol Hill and Westridge neighbourhoods see this drainage effect most clearly.
Near Burnaby
Nearby British Columbia cities
Other British Columbia cities our forecast covers — same regional profile, different local weather.
Looking for forecasts across the rest of British Columbia? View the British Columbia hub with all school boards, transportation consortia, weather zones, and a full city directory. Or browse the provinces & territories hub for every Canadian region.
Also in British Columbia: Victoria · Kelowna · Kamloops · Prince George · Nanaimo · Abbotsford
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