<P> The climatology of Vancouver applies to the entire Greater Vancouver region and not just to the City of Vancouver itself . While Vancouver's coastal location serves to moderate its temperatures, sea breezes and mountainous terrain make Greater Vancouver a region of microclimates, with local variations in weather sometimes being more exaggerated than those experienced in other coastal areas . </P> <P> Predicting precipitation in the Greater Vancouver area is particularly complex . It is a rule of thumb that for every rise of 100 m (330 ft) in elevation, there is an additional 100 mm (3.9 in) (1.2 in (30 mm) per 100 ft (30 m)) of precipitation, so places such as the District of North Vancouver on the North Shore Mountains get more rain . Snow is problematic for meteorologists to predict due to temperatures remaining close to freezing during snow events . </P> <P> The annual average temperature in Vancouver is 11.0 ° C (51.8 ° F) downtown and 10.4 ° C (50.7 ° F) at the airport, in Richmond, amongst the warmest in Canada . It is located in a USDA plant hardiness zone of 8, similar to other coastal or near - coastal cities such as Seattle, Portland, Amsterdam and London, as well as places such as Atlanta, Georgia and Raleigh, North Carolina, far to the south . The mild climate allows plants such as the Windmill Palm to sustain . Vancouver's growing season averages 221 days, from March 29 until November 5 . This is 72 days longer than Toronto's, and longer than any other major centre in Canada . </P> <P> Despite normally mild winters resulting from the onshore flow over the North Pacific Current, occasional arrivals of cold arctic outflows (sinking cold continental air that flows down through the Fraser Valley coastward) in winter can sometimes last a week or more . These arctic outbreaks occur on average about one to three times per winter . In an extreme case, the coldest month on record at Vancouver International Airport was in January 1950 when an arctic air inflow moved in from the Fraser Valley and remained locked over the city, with an average low of − 9.7 ° C (15 ° F) and an average high of only − 2.9 ° C (27 ° F), making for a daily average of − 6.3 ° C (20.7 ° F), 10 ° C (18 ° F) colder than normal . The coldest temperature ever recorded in the city was − 17.8 ° C (0 ° F) on January 14, 1950 and again on December 29, 1968 . The coldest temperature across Metro Vancouver, however, is − 23.3 ° C (− 10 ° F) recorded on January 23, 1969 . </P>

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