On Monday, Mainroad Communications issued a Stakeholder Advisory for weather expected to impact their area of service. On Tuesday morning they updated their weather advisory with recent information from Environment Canada.
Currently their expected forecast is for snow, heavy in some locations, throughout Tuesday and ending Tuesday night. Temperatures will increase gradually over the course of the day, causing snow to become wetter. At elevations below around 1000 metres, the precipitation could change to a mix of snow and rain.
In the Cranbrook area, 15 centimetres of snow accumulation is expected by Tuesday night. In the Panorama area and the Elk Valley, accumulation could reach as high as 25 centimetres while in Moyie-Yahk around 10 centimetres is expected.
Temperatures are expected to drop below -10C in most of the region after Wednesday night. This will result in a higher chance of ice hazards for the duration of the week, because this temperature may be too cold for anti-icing chemicals to work effectively.
On Monday night, Environment Canada updated their Weather Storm Watch to include the following warning:
“A Pacific frontal system crossing Southern B.C. today will bring near 25 cm of snow to Fernie and Morrissey by Wednesday morning. The heavy snow is expected to ease somewhat tonight and then become intermittent on Wednesday as the system exits the province.
“Rapidly accumulating snow could make travel difficult over some locations. Prepare for quickly changing and deteriorating travel conditions. Poor weather conditions may contribute to transportation delays. For more information on this and other Alerts, visit www.weather.gc.ca and click Public Alerts.”
Main road stated that their units have been out proactively treating major routes with anti-icing chemicals ahead of this weather event arriving. The white, chalky lines on the road surface are a result of this process.
Mainroad crews will continue to apply anti-ice chemicals and/or winter abrasive, while also performing snow operations where necessary.
As always, motorists are advised to visit www.drivebc.ca before hitting the road, and to drive with caution, especially with rapidly changing road conditions.