STORM CENTRE: Heavy snow hits Metro Vancouver causing flight delays, power outages

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VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – The first real snowstorm of the season has hit much of southern BC, causing flight delays, power outages and traffic snarls.

But Environment Canada has ended its snowfall warning for Vancouver, including the North Shore, northeast areas including Coquitlam and Maple Ridge, southeast areas including Surrey and Langley and the southwest cities of Richmond and Delta.

Meanwhile, the City of Vancouver will be salting and plowing major roadways overnight.

Environment Canada Meteorologist Greg Pearce says it could be slippery in the morning.

“If it stays cloudy most of the night, well, we’ll probably hold, you know, right around plus one or so, but if we get clearing towards the morning, the temperature is likely to fall down to maybe as low as -1 so if that happens then of course all the slush and water that’s on the streets right now will freeze up.”

“We think right now that the clearing is going to occur just before sunrise, so that would give a few hours for the temperature to dip down below the freezing point tomorrow morning so that’ll be the critical time when we see that water turn to ice.”

Power outages 

BC Hydro says snow and freezing rain have impacted thousands of customers across northern and southern Vancouver Island. Since 5:00 a.m. more than 75,000 customers have had power restored on Vancouver Island. Thousands of homes and businesses have also been without power on the Lower Mainland and Sunshine Coast.

BC Hydro Spokesperson, Mora Scott, says all hands are on deck, trying to restore power.

“They’re doing things like repairing damaged power lines, power poles as well as transformers. It does take time to get to each of the individual sites and there’s dozens of them right now so we’re hoping to get people back onlIne this evening but it might take longer than that.”

She warns there could be more outages.

“We are keeping a really close eye on the weather right now and we do have all hands on deck, so we have all available BC hydro crews as well as contract crews, should we see additional outages.”

Airports hit hard

Heavy snow has caused flight delays and cancellations at Vancouver International Airport.

Some passengers have reported being stuck on planes on the runway for five to seven hours.

YVR has deployed their winter operations team, and is working to keep the planes free of ice. The status of all departing flights can be found here.

Meanwhile, Victoria International Airport experienced a significant power outage thanks to snow and freezing rain.

While the outage itself caused only minor delays, all retail store at YYJ were closed, and the airport was operating on emergency power.

Power was restored around 3:00 p.m.

Also, Harbour Air Seaplanes has cancelled all remaining flights for today because of the weather. Anyone who needs to cancel a reservation or re-book for another day is advised to call 1-800-665-0212.

Warming centres open Wednesday

Three temporary warming centres in the City of Vancouver will be activated starting December 20. Warming centres are activated when the temperature reaches -5°C or below (or it feels like -5°C or below).

Warming centres at the following locations will remain open to December 27:

  • Britannia Community Centre – 1739 Venables Street (9pm-8:30am)
  • Carnegie Community Centre – 401 Main Street (11:15pm – 7am)
  • West End Community Centre – 870 Denman Street (11pm – 7am)

 

Those looking for shelter space can call 2-1-1 to check availability or a full list of shelters is available here. Community centres and other public buildings are also available during their open hours as spaces to warm up.

Coquihalla Highway could get over a foot of snow

It’s a much snowier outlook for other parts of southwestern BC.

Some 30 to 40 centimetres is expected to fall over the Coquihalla Highway between Hope and Merritt, and Highway 3 between Hope and Princeton by Wednesday morning.

An Environment Canada winter storm warning is in place for those areas. Road closures have occurred on the Coquihalla southbound because of spun-out vehicles, and drivers are advised to consider postponing non-essential travel until conditions improve.

Snowfall warnings are also in place for the Fraser Valley today, including Chilliwack, Hope, and Abbotsford.

Police keep close watch

Mounties that patrol Highway 1 through Abbotsford and the rest of the Fraser Valley have been out in force.

“We have CVSE (Commercial Vehicle Safety and Enforcement) out on the hills that are going to be checking to make sure first of all that the commercial vehicles are chaining up as required,” says Staff Sergeant Reinhold Weissbock.

“Also, we’re going to be checking that the travelling public are properly equipped with the proper snow tires and things like that.”

He adds it only takes one accident to cause major slowdowns along the highway.

Some schools closing early

Because of the heavy snow, all students and staff at Simon Fraser University’s Burnaby Campus were instructed to leave, effective 1 p.m. Tuesday.

Students who have afternoon classes there will not be required to attend them. Normal operations are expected to resume tomorrow.

SFU’s Vancouver and Surrey campuses are so far unaffected by the storm.

Notre Dame Regional Secondary in East Vancouver was closing early. No decision had been made about Wednesday’s operations.

3:30 p.m. exams at UBC Point Grey were cancelled because of the weather. 7:00 p.m. exams at the campus will proceed as scheduled.

On Vancouver Island meanwhile, schools in district 69 were closed early because of a widespread power outage. Thar affected Kwalikum Secondary School, Arrowview Elementary, Errington Elementary, L’Ecole Oceanside Elementary, and Nanoose Bay Elementary.

TransLink, municipalities get into winter mode

TransLink says it was prepared to call in extra staff if necessary. It has a de-icer for trolley bus wires and SkyTrain tracks when the temperature drops.

The company previously announced changes to its winter plans following last year’s transit trouble, including testing kevlar tire socks for buses on Burnaby Mountain and heat tracing and cover boards for the Canada Line’s power rail.

A full list of TransLink delays can be found here.

Municipal crews were out all day Monday laying brine on the roads, but those operations can’t continue when it’s raining.

“We’re outfitting some of those pieces of equipment that normally have a duel purpose… they’re now being prepared and getting ready to shift over in the event we see some snow,” says Brian Carter with the city of Burnaby.

He adds they will have plenty of road salt available to avoid the notorious shortages of last winter.

“We’ve made sure we have enough contracts in place to secure the quantities above and probably beyond the average year just because of last year’s event,” Carter says.

Burnaby, Coquitlam and Maple Ridge all have ploughs and sanders at the ready, but are asking home and business owners to do their part to clear sidewalks.

“Get out there right away. Shovel your sidewalks. Kids need to be able to walk safely to school for the rest of this week,” Maple Ridge spokesperson Fred Armstong says.

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