Kamloops · British Columbia · 2026–27 season
Snow Day Predictor KamloopsWill school be cancelled tomorrow in Kamloops?
Live overnight forecast for Kamloops, Brocklehurst, Sahali, Aberdeen, Westsyde, Valleyview, and the rural communities of School District #73 including Logan Lake, Sun Peaks, Chase, and Barriere. The predictor is tuned to Thompson Valley semi-arid winter patterns and rural bus-cancellation thresholds.
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What makes Kamloops unique
Kamloops sits in one of the driest parts of British Columbia, in the semi-arid Thompson Valley. Annual snowfall is far lower than the BC coast or interior mountains, but continental cold nights routinely drive school operations below minus 20 Celsius.
Thompson-Nicola forecast
Kamloops snow day forecast, what to expect this winter
Kamloops occupies the floor of the Thompson Valley at the confluence of the North and South Thompson Rivers, a basin sheltered by the Coast Mountains to the west and the Columbia Mountains to the east. The rain-shadow effect leaves the city in one of the driest pockets of British Columbia, with annual snowfall averaging roughly 70 to 80 cm, less than half of what falls on Prince George and a small fraction of what accumulates at Sun Peaks Resort just 50 km north. For school-day purposes the more important variable is not snowfall but overnight temperature. The valley experiences strong radiative cooling under clear winter skies and frequent inversion layers that trap cold air on the valley floor, producing morning lows below minus 25 Celsius several times each winter.
School operations across the city and the surrounding Thompson-Nicola region fall under Kamloops-Thompson School District #73, the public board responsible for more than 15,000 students from Logan Lake in the south to Barriere in the north and Chase to the east. SD #73 manages a single bus operation that contracts route service across all of these communities, and the district makes weather decisions on a route-by-route basis rather than as a single citywide call. The Conseil scolaire francophone de la Colombie-Britannique (SD #93) operates one French-language school in Kamloops with separate transportation arrangements. The independent and Catholic schools in the city generally follow SD #73 transportation calls because most of their families ride the same rural routes.
The practical pattern in Kamloops is that the city itself rarely loses a school day to snow. What does happen, several times each winter, is a rural route cancellation for Barriere, Chase, Sun Peaks, or Logan Lake while urban Kamloops schools operate normally. Our forecast separates the closure probability from the rural bus-cancellation probability and pulls hourly temperature and snowfall data at your specific coordinates, so a Barriere postal code and a Sahali postal code return different numbers for the same morning.
School boards
Kamloops school boards we model
The boards and transportation operators that make the morning closure call for Kamloops.
- Kamloops-Thompson School District #73
The public board for Kamloops and the surrounding Thompson-Nicola region, serving over 15,000 students across Kamloops, Logan Lake, Sun Peaks, Chase, Barriere, Clearwater, and rural communities. Weather decisions are made route-by-route rather than as a single district call.
- Conseil scolaire francophone de la Colombie-Britannique (SD #93)
The province-wide French-language public board, operating École Collines-d’Or in Kamloops with its own transportation arrangements separate from SD #73.
- Independent and Catholic schools (context)
Kamloops is home to independent schools including Our Lady of Perpetual Help and Kamloops Christian School. These schools set their own closure policies but typically follow SD #73 transportation calls because their families share rural bus routes.
Bus transportation
Kamloops-Thompson SD #73 contracts its own school bus operators serving Kamloops, Logan Lake, Sun Peaks, Chase, Barriere, and Clearwater. Route cancellation decisions are made by 6:00 am the morning of and posted to the district website and social channels. Rural routes through Barriere, the North Thompson corridor, and Sun Peaks Road are cancelled significantly more often than in-city Kamloops routes for the same forecast.
Local weather
Kamloops’s signature winter weather patterns
The phenomena that produce most Kamloops snow days.
- Thompson Valley semi-arid climate
Kamloops sits in a deep rain shadow of the Coast Mountains. Annual snowfall averages 70 to 80 cm, less than half what Prince George receives and a small fraction of what falls on the BC coast in liquid-equivalent terms. Many storms that close schools elsewhere in BC pass over Kamloops with only a dusting of snow on the valley floor.
- Continental cold nights with valley inversion
Under clear winter skies the valley floor cools rapidly through radiation, and a temperature inversion forms where cold dense air pools below warmer air on the surrounding hillsides. Aberdeen and Juniper Ridge can be 5 to 10 Celsius warmer than downtown Kamloops on inversion mornings. The valley floor regularly drops below minus 25 Celsius in January, the threshold that triggers cold-weather route adjustments.
- Coquihalla Pass storm events
Highway 5 over the Coquihalla Pass is the lifeline between Kamloops and the Lower Mainland, climbing to 1,244 m at the summit. Pacific storms that produce rain in Vancouver routinely close the Coquihalla with heavy snow and avalanche control, stranding commercial traffic and occasionally affecting Kamloops supply chains and weekend school activities.
- Sun Peaks elevation snowfall
Sun Peaks Resort, 50 km northeast of Kamloops, sits at 1,255 m at the village base and receives over 550 cm of snow annually, more than seven times the valley floor total. SD #73 operates a small school at Sun Peaks, and the bus route from Heffley Creek up to the village is one of the most weather-sensitive in the district.
- Arctic outflow from the BC interior
When a high-pressure ridge builds over the Yukon and northern BC, Arctic air drains south through the interior plateau and into the Thompson Valley. These outflow events are not snow events, they are wind chill events, with steady minus 20 Celsius temperatures and 30 to 50 km/h winds producing wind chill values near minus 40. SD #73 adjusts rural bus operations for outflow even when no snow has fallen.
History
Notable Kamloops snow days in recent winters
Storms and ice events that shaped how Kamloops school boards approach the morning call.
Polar vortex over Interior BC
February 4-8, 2019A southward displacement of the polar vortex sent Arctic air deep into the BC interior. Kamloops recorded overnight lows of minus 30 Celsius with wind chill near minus 40. SD #73 cancelled rural buses on multiple days and shortened outdoor activities at urban schools. The event reset expectations for how cold Kamloops mornings can run even in a semi-arid valley.
Lower Mainland storm reached the Interior
December 19-21, 2008A Pacific system that buried Vancouver also pushed snow over the Coquihalla and into Kamloops, dropping 25 cm on the valley floor, a top-tier event for the city. SD #73 cancelled all routes for two days and the Coquihalla was closed for avalanche control. This storm remains the modern benchmark for a high-snow Kamloops event.
Interior BC cold snap
January 12-16, 2020A persistent ridge produced five consecutive nights below minus 25 Celsius in Kamloops with daytime highs that never rose above minus 18. SD #73 cancelled rural Barriere and Chase routes on the coldest mornings while keeping urban schools operating. Several BC Transit routes in the city ran on reduced schedules.
Pre-Christmas cold and snow
December 19-23, 2022A combined Arctic outflow and Pacific frontal passage delivered 20 cm of snow to Kamloops followed by minus 30 Celsius wind chills. SD #73 cancelled rural routes on December 20 and 21 ahead of the Christmas break, and the Coquihalla was closed multiple times for compact-snow conditions and stranded trucks.
Atmospheric river aftermath
November 14-15, 2021While the Lower Mainland flooded, the same atmospheric river pushed heavy mountain snow over the Coquihalla and disrupted Highway 5 for weeks. Kamloops itself saw only modest snowfall but the regional supply impact, including diesel rationing and route detours through Highway 1 and the Okanagan, affected SD #73 bus fuelling and rural service.
Kamloops January snow event
January 11, 2017A Pacific low that tracked unusually far north dropped 15 cm of snow on Kamloops overnight with morning temperatures near minus 15 Celsius. SD #73 cancelled all rural routes and many parents in Sahali and Aberdeen reported the steepest hillside streets were impassable until mid-morning plowing.
FAQ
Kamloops snow day frequently asked questions
The 7 questions Kamloops parents and teachers ask us most.
Will Kamloops-Thompson SD #73 close tomorrow?
Type your Kamloops postal code or "Kamloops, British Columbia" into the predictor above. SD #73 makes weather decisions on a route-by-route basis rather than as a single district call. Urban Kamloops schools in Sahali, Aberdeen, Brocklehurst, Westsyde, and Valleyview rarely close outright, while rural routes through Barriere, Chase, Sun Peaks, and Logan Lake are cancelled several times each winter. The predictor returns both numbers separately.
Why does Kamloops get so much less snow than Prince George or the Coast?
Kamloops sits in the rain shadow of the Coast Mountains and the Cascades, in the floor of the semi-arid Thompson Valley. Pacific storms drop most of their moisture as they rise over the coastal ranges and the Coquihalla, leaving comparatively dry air to descend into the valley. Annual snowfall averages 70 to 80 cm in Kamloops compared with over 200 cm in Prince George and over 550 cm at Sun Peaks just 50 km away. The valley climate is closer to the dry interior than to the rest of British Columbia.
Will school be cancelled in Sun Peaks or Barriere tomorrow?
Sun Peaks and Barriere are both served by SD #73 but their routes are managed separately from Kamloops city routes. The Sun Peaks route climbs from Heffley Creek to 1,255 m and is one of the most weather-sensitive in the district. The Barriere route runs north up the North Thompson corridor and is the most frequently cancelled rural route. Enter a Sun Peaks or Barriere postal code in the predictor for the route-specific probability rather than the urban Kamloops number.
How does the Coquihalla affect Kamloops schools?
The Coquihalla Highway over the 1,244 m pass is the main route between Kamloops and the Lower Mainland and is closed several times each winter for snow, avalanche control, or commercial-vehicle incidents. Coquihalla closures rarely cancel Kamloops school directly, because most SD #73 routes do not use the pass, but they affect supply chains, parent commuting, and weekend school activities. The November 2021 atmospheric river disruption is the clearest recent example of indirect impact on the district.
How is Kamloops winter different from Vancouver?
Vancouver has a maritime winter, where rain is the default and even small snow events overwhelm the system. Kamloops has a continental winter in a rain-shadow valley, where snow is infrequent but cold is reliable and severe. A Vancouver snow day is usually a 5 to 10 cm snowfall on unprepared streets. A Kamloops weather closure is usually wind chill near minus 30 to minus 40 Celsius on rural bus routes, with little or no fresh snow. The thresholds and the triggers are entirely different.
Will rural SD #73 routes close before Kamloops city schools?
Almost always yes. The district cancels rural routes for cold and snow conditions that urban Kamloops schools handle without disruption. A typical morning during a cold snap or snow event sees Barriere, Chase, Sun Peaks Road, and outer Logan Lake routes cancelled while every SD #73 school in central Kamloops opens on time. The predictor reflects this by returning a separate rural bus probability that runs significantly higher than the urban closure number.
What is a Thompson Valley inversion and how does it affect mornings?
A temperature inversion forms when cold dense air pools on the valley floor while warmer air sits aloft on the surrounding hillsides. Inversions are common in Kamloops on clear winter nights with light winds. Downtown Kamloops and the river-flats neighbourhoods can be 5 to 10 Celsius colder than Aberdeen, Juniper Ridge, or Sun Peaks at the same time. For school decisions this matters because the lowest valley-floor temperature is what drives wind chill calculations for bus operations, even when hillside neighbourhoods feel relatively mild.
Near Kamloops
Nearby British Columbia cities
Other British Columbia cities our forecast covers — same regional profile, different local weather.
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