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Writer's picturePapertown Station

1936::A Snow Day in Victoria, British Columbia

Updated: Mar 16

A wintery scene in the bustling Vancouver Island city.


1936::A Cold Morning on Yates at Douglas Street

"1936::A Cold Morning on Yates at Douglas Street"

Photo Clip: Victoria Daily Times (1936)

Victoria, British Columbia


It was a wintery scene on Yates at Douglas Street at the south end of Vancouver Island. Victorians had woken up to their first Snow Day in years when the temperature dropped overnight to -8 °C, causing heavy rain to fall as snow. It was a rare and unexpected winter event that changed any plans anyone might have had for the day.


1936::A Snowman in Fairfield

"1936::A Snowman in Fairfield"

Photo Clip: Victoria Daily Times (1936)

Victoria, British Columbia


Thousands of children raced outside to enjoy Victoria's first heavy snowfall of the season. Snow forts and snowmen appeared in yards everywhere, and hundreds of toboggans were dragged from cellars to the city's best hills: Moss Street, St. Charles Street and Verdier Ave in Brentwood Bay. Skating ponds like the Panama Flats in Saanich and Goodacre Lake in Beacon Hill Park were packed with citizens of all ages. The city's best trails - Mount Tolmie, Mount Doug and Gonzales Hill - were busy with hikers hoping to look down on the city in a blanket of white. Police constables reported witnessing random snowball fights among strangers but wouldn't admit participating in the fun. The snow fell all day that cold Saturday in February and disappeared when the thermometer returned to normal the next morning. It was the end of another Victoria Snow Day, but it was one to be remembered.


1936::Snowy Yates Street Scene in Victoria, British Columbia

"1936::Snowy Yates Street Scene in Victoria, British Columbia"

Photo Clip: Victoria Daily Times (1936)

Victoria, British Columbia


To capture this snowy scene, the photographer stood in the middle of the Yates and Douglas Street intersection and pointed his camera East.


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