Look out, North Shore. It’s time to halt the flower counting and pick up the snow shovel.
After dodging most of the fluffy white bullets during Sunday’s sudden snow storm, more snow is on the way, beginning Monday afternoon and continuing overnight with flurries continuing Tuesday.
This time, North and West Vancouver will probably see accumulations of around 20 centimetres, said Matt MacDonald, a meteorologist with Environment Canada.
Higher elevations will likely see more snow.
Sunday’s snow storm developed very suddenly with a low pressure system over Vancouver Island. Most of the North Shore saw relatively modest accumulations of between 5 and 8 cm of snow, said MacDonald, while areas of Langley and Surrey were hardest hit in the Lower Mainland with upwards of 30 cm of snow.
Cold temperatures hovering around -6 C “made for really light fluffy snow,” said MacDonald. “It wasn’t that wet snow that we’re used to.”
While Sunday’s storm was caused by a low pressure system tangling with cold outflow winds, tonight’s weather will be different, said MacDonald. “It’s coming in off the coast,” he said.
In anticipation of a major dump of snow, BC Ferries has already cancelled several of the later sailings out of its Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal in West Vancouver including the 10:10 p.m. sailing to Departure Bay, the 10 p.m. sailing to Bowen Island and the 10:55 sailing to the Langdale on the Sunshine Coast. The 5:30 p.m. and 7:50 p.m. sailings to the Sunshine Coast are also cancelled.
TransLink is also getting set for weather and will replace larger articulated buses with conventional buses better able to handle steep roads if necessary. Tire socks may also be installed on key North Shore buses where hills and traction are a problem in the snow.
Winter will continue for much of this week, said MacDonald.
“We have another messy (weather) system on Thursday,” he said, which is expected to begin as more snow and eventually change to rain.
