Malahat Weather & Road Conditions

No full closures are reported on Malahat as of Sep 20, 2026 3:48 AM PDT, and no lane closures or roadworks either. Always check with DriveBC before setting off.

Malahat Winter Tire & Chain-Up Requirements

Malahat is on a designated winter tire and chain route. Winter tires are required on it every year from October 1 to April 30, whatever the forecast on the day, and commercial vehicles carry chains and put them on at the chain-up signs. What is in force right now — a chain-up in effect, a closure — this page does not carry; DriveBC ↗ is the authority before you set off. The rule in full, with the fines and the exceptions, is on the British Columbia page.

What this page can tell you is the surface at the summit, from radar and surface analysis: currently dry, with the road surface estimated at 8°C. The road surface figure is an estimate derived from air temperature, not a measurement — bridges and overpasses run colder than the number shown.

Malahat Weather Forecast: Next 6 Days

At the summit, 352 m. Each day shows its warmest and coldest hour, and the worst driving conditions forecast anywhere in it — not the average, because the hour that closes a pass is the one worth knowing about.

1. Rest of today Sep 20

   

   23°C 10°C

   Wet

   Wind to 6 km/h

2. Mon Sep 21

   

   21°C 9°C

   Moist

   Wind to 6 km/h

3. Tue Sep 22

   

   20°C 8°C

   Wet

   Wind to 9 km/h

4. Wed Sep 23

   

   19°C 8°C

   Wet worst around 12 PM

   Wind to 14 km/h
   1.0 mm precipitation

5. Thu Sep 24

   

   19°C 7°C

   Wet worst around 6 PM

   Wind to 7 km/h
   4.7 mm precipitation

6. Fri Sep 25

   

   15°C 9°C

   Moist

   Wind to 20 km/h
   2.6 mm precipitation

Forecast, not a measurement — from the same weather service that draws this page's radar and road colors, model run 6 hours ago. Days run on Pacific time, the clock the pass keeps — not the reader's.

Why Malahat closes

Crashes, not weather. The Malahat is the only road between Greater Victoria and the rest of Vancouver Island, two and three lanes with a concrete median for much of it, and when a collision or a vehicle fire blocks it — as one did near Goldstream Park on 27 May 2026 — both directions stop, because there is nowhere for the traffic to go. Snow does close it a few times a winter, and the storm of November 2021 damaged it at Tunnel Hill enough for a week of overnight closures.

When it is closed the alternatives are not roads in the usual sense: the Brentwood Bay to Mill Bay ferry, on a daytime timetable, or the Pacific Marine route through Port Renfrew, hours longer and partly gravel.

The dated closures, with the province's own releases for each, are on the Highway 1 page.

Malahat by the month

Thirty-year normals from the nearest Environment and Climate Change Canada station with a full record: Sooke Lake North, 7 km away. Averages for 1981–2010; a normal month, not this month.

Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada, Canadian Climate Normals 1981–2010, station SOOKE LAKE NORTH (1017563), 231 m, through the MSC GeoMet API.

Related Roads

Malahat Road Weather FAQ

Is Malahat open right now?

No full closures are reported on Malahat. No lane closures or roadworks are reported either.

What are Malahat road conditions today?

The map on this page colors the route along Malahat by what is on the pavement right now — dry, wet, slush, snow or ice — from radar and surface data, last updated Sep 20, 2026 3:48 AM PDT. Right now temperatures run from 10°C to 13°C and the strongest wind is 4 km/h.

Do I need chains on Malahat today?

In a car, no. Malahat is on a designated winter tire route: winter tires are required on it from October 1 to April 30, and chains are what commercial vehicles carry and put on at the chain-up signs. A chain-up in effect or a closure is posted on the signs and on DriveBC. What this page can tell you is that the surface at the summit is dry, and the road surface is estimated at 8°C.

What is the weather forecast for Malahat this week?

At the summit, Sep 20 to Sep 25: highs 15-23°C, lows 7-10°C. No snow or ice is forecast on the road in that time. It is a forecast rather than a measurement, and the later days are less certain than the earlier ones.

How often are Malahat road conditions updated?

The road surface and weather layers are rebuilt whenever this page is opened with data more than ten minutes old, and refreshed on a schedule in between, so nothing here is more than about two hours old even on a road nobody has looked at. Closures and road blocks are re-imported from DriveBC every fifteen minutes. Every section on this page carries the time its data was fetched.