The Big Snow has already melted into history, but not before Friday’s whiteout caused widespread traffic headaches and dumped enough snow to challenge the record books.
Parts of North Vancouver received up to 33 centimetres of snow during Friday’s snowstorm, which lasted into the early hours of Saturday. West Vancouver got less – about 15 centimetres in most areas, said Environment Canada meteorologist Cindy Yu.
Yu said the snowfall across Metro Vancouver broke records for Feb. 23 going back to 1936.
Municipal crews across the North Shore were out in full force plowing and salting roads on Friday. By Monday, the majority of roads in the District of North Vancouver were cleared and salted, said Stephanie Smiley, spokeswoman for the District of North Vancouver. Crews were continuing to monitor areas where melting snow could turn to ice with dipping temperatures overnight, she said. West Vancouver crews were still clearing snow from some local cul-de-sacs and footpaths.
Those trying to get around the North Shore during the snow faced challenging conditions. Both the eastbound highway off-ramp to 22nd Street in West Vancouver and a section of Highland Drive in the British Properties were temporarily closed due to slippery conditions on the steep hill.
“The Upper Levels Highway when the snow was falling was extremely slick,” said Const. Jeff Palmer, spokesman for the West Vancouver Police Department. “There were semis having real trouble climbing from Westview up to Lonsdale, spinning out trying to make that.”
One vehicle went off the road on Cypress Bowl Road and another became high centred on a barrier after losing control on Highway 99. “They didn’t have adequate tires for highway conditions,” said Palmer.
North Vancouver RCMP reported 13 collisions during the snowstorm on Friday, including five with moderate damage to vehicles and four with minor injuries. Another five collisions were reported on Saturday. Luckily most accidents were confined to fender benders.
West Vancouver Blue Buses were sticking close to lower elevations along Marine Drive or main roads like Highway 1 for most of Friday with routes heading up or down steep hills cancelled or re-routed. It was a similar situation in parts of North Vancouver, where buses headed to upper reaches of Lynn Valley and Grouse roads were re-routed due to road conditions.
“It was definitely a challenging day on Friday,” said Chris Bryan, spokesman for TransLink.
The transit authority had a good test of its pilot “snow sock” program for buses on Burnaby Mountain routes on Friday. If TransLink decides to expand the program, the North Shore routes would be good candidates, said Bryan.
Like most other transit agencies in Canada, TransLink buses use snow-rated all-season tires in winter, said Bryan – not snow tires. “No transit agency uses snow tires on their buses,” said Bryan. “They rely on the municipalities to keep the roads clear.”
This week’s forecast is predicting rain, although “as we head into this weekend there is some cold air trying to push through again,” said Yu. That means flurries at higher elevations might not be out of the question. Temperatures are generally expected to remain on the cool side of normal through March, say meteorologists, before more spring-like weather takes hold in April.
