First significant snowfall of the year expected for parts of southwest B.C.

A cold front moving from the Pacific could give parts of southwest B.C. their first major snow of the season.

Environment Canada has issued a special weather statement for the Coquihalla Highway, Highway 3 from Hope to Princeton, the Okanagan Connector (Highway 97C) from Merritt to Kelowna, and the Sea-to-Sky-Highway from Squamish to Whistler.

The weather system is expected to hit the Sea-to-Sky-Highway late Wednesday evening before moving east on Thursday, with up to 20 centimetres of snow anticipated forall regions by Thursday afternoon.

"The local mountains will definitely get a fresh 20-plus centimetres of snow, and there is a slight chance in the early morning hours we may even see some wet snow on the top of Burnaby Mountain," said CBCmeteorologistJohanna Wagstaffe.

Snow is not expected at lower elevations throughout Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley, however.

Wagstaffeaddedthat with cool temperatures expected for several days, the snow should stick around in higher elevations until the weekend.

Environment Canada is advising people to monitor alerts and to check Drive BC before starting a trip on any affected highways.