Drivers should expect a very slow and slippery commute on Tuesday after even more snow fell across B.C.’s South Coast overnight.
Highway 1 from the Fraser Valley into Surrey is slick again, with spun-out cars creating hazards. Multi-vehicle collisions in Coquitlam just west of the Port Mann Bridge are blocking lanes in both directions.
“BC Highway Patrol is asking commuters to reconsider driving until the roads are clear,” the police agency said in a statement Tuesday.
“If you’re a confident driver who is prepared for the snow, you need to slow down more than usual,” said Cpl. Michael McLaughlin.
“If you’re not a confident driver, or your car isn’t winter-ready, stay off the roads entirely. This isn’t your day.”
1130 Air Patrol Anchor Darren Grieve shares that the condition of the highway through the Burnaby Lake area is treacherous.
The Cut in North Vancouver is also seeing drivers struggle to find traction.
“Once you get across to the North Shore, it’s maybe even worse. We have spun out vehicles all the way up The Cut here and there. So just use extreme caution. And the same goes for all the way through West Vancouver. Just not a fun morning,” Grieve said.
A double tanker semi-truck found itself at an angle across the highway, trying to sneak its way up the hill. As drivers try to navigate the mess, if they’re stopping, they’re finding it hard to get going again.
“Things are also quite bad on the side streets that places where the plows haven’t been able to reach yet, especially those roads where there was a pre-existing compact snow or ice underneath, you get that other layer of fresh snow over the top, and it’s really quite slippery in some areas,” 1130 Reporter Mike Lloyd shared.
“Again, we’ve been saying this again and again. If you don’t have good winter tires, you’re not comfortable out the road on a morning like this, why not wait for a couple of hours or so until things really start to ease off and those conditions improve on the road,” he added.
1130 Meteorologist Michael Kuss explains that the same elements that came together for the big dumps of snow over the weekend happened again overnight.
“We have the Arctic air sliding out from the Interior. That dry arctic air mixing with some instability, wrapping around a low-pressure system that remains offshore. We get the rising air, the cooling, the condensing, the cloud cover, and the precipitation, and that’s what we have today over Metro Vancouver,” Kuss explained, adding that it was different to Monday when the snow was mostly focused in the Fraser Valley.
Kuss says the region is starting to see the heavier bands of precipitation taper back toward lighter flurries.
“It still could accumulate to a dusting or a couple of centimetres through the morning, but what’s down is the majority of the precipitation we will get this morning and into the afternoon as well,” he said.
“Cold temperatures are setting up this morning. It feels minus 10 to minus 15 as you walk out the door and not much warmer into the afternoon,” Kuss added.
Meanwhile, TransLink is urging people to build extra time into their travel plans today, “as there may be delays in service due to the weather and road conditions.”
“Extra staff are on hand to keep customers moving, and all services remain operational,” the transit provider said.
In preparation for the snow, TransLink has swapped out some of its 60-foot-long buses for 40-foot buses, SkyTrain attendants are stationed to prevent snow and ice from building up on the tracks,
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