Travel alerts issued for Southern Interior mountain passes
A new storm is set to move into the Southern Interior starting tonight, Feb. 27, triggering Travel Alerts by Environment Canada.
This follows a snowy night that left most regional highways with compact snow and slippery sections this morning.
“A strong pacific frontal system will begin to push into the BC interior this evening,” the alert says. “Snowfall will intensify overnight and continue throughout Wednesday and into Thursday. In addition, gusty southwest winds will develop Wednesday and persist into Thursday.
The snow is expected to taper off Thursday but could persist longer along Highway 3 from Hope to Princeton.
The BC Travellers Forecast says 5-10 cm of snow could fall on the Coquihalla Highway from Hope to Merritt today, with freezing levels at valley bottoms. Another 20-30 cm could fall Wednesday.
The temperature at Hope at 6 a.m. today was -3 Celsius with a snowfall warning in the Fraser Valley where 5-10 cm are expected. Merritt and Kamloops sat at -12 C and Kelowna was at -7 C.
The Coquihalla Highway from Merritt to Kamloops is expected to get 2-4 cm of snow today and again on Wednesday while the Okanagan Connecter is could get 5 cm starting after midnight tonight and another 5-10 cm tomorrow.
Highway 3 from Hope to Princeton could get up to 25 cm through Thursday and Highway 1 from the Rogers Pass to Eagle Pass 20 cm.
The cold snap is forecast to ease today with a high of -1 C in Kamloops with light snow, rising to 12 C Wednesday before dropping down to 6-8 C for the rest of the week.
Kelowna could get to 1 C today with periods of snow tonight then up to 10 C Wednesday. Vernon is expected to only get to -1 C today and 5 C tomorrow, also with snow overnight.
Highs in the Okanagan later in the week are forecast to be in the 2-4 C range before rising a few degrees on the weekend.
Penticton’s forecast is for a high of 4 C today and 10 C tomorrow with wet flurries or rain.
Warmer temperatures are expected throughout the region on the weekend in the 6-9 C range.
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