(JENNIFER STAHN / iNFOnews.ca)

An Arctic front moving from the Gulf of Alaska through the Central Interior is expected to bring significant snowfall to Kamloops tonight with less in the Okanagan.

“It’s quite unstable so trying to pick out which areas are going to get the most snowfall is going to be difficult but the higher elevations should definitely see more as are the areas to the north,” Environment Canada meteorologist Brian Proctor told iNFOnews.ca today, Dec. 13.

“I would not be surprised to see all areas have snowfall this evening and into the morning.”

Environment Canada issued as special weather statement advising that up to 15 centimetres of snow could fall throughout the region, although it has since been updated to exclude the Central and South Okanagan, including Kelowna and Penticton. Intense bands of snow will still impact the South Thompson region including Kamloops, the Shuswap including Salmon Arm, the Nicola including Merritt, along with the Similkameen and Boundary regions.

The snow is also expected on upper elevation highways including the Coquihalla, the Okanagan Connector (Highway 97C) from Kelowna to Merritt and Highway 3 from Princeton to Hope via the Allison Pass.

This snowfall will be followed by more snow Wednesday evening and overnight into Thursday but, since the system is coming from the north, it’s hard to predict how much snow will fall, Proctor said.

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It will be followed by cooler weather with daytimes highs in the -1 Celsius to -5 C range with lows of -5 C to -10 C by the weekend.

Given the unpredictability of the current weather patterns it’s still too early to talk about the chances of it being a white Christmas, Proctor said.

For the latest on the special weather statement, along with watches and warnings, go to Environment Canada's web page here.

For the latest on highway conditions, visit Drive B.C. here.

— This story was updated at 11:13 a.m. Monday, Dec. 13, 2021, with new information from Environment Canada.

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