B.C. winter storm brings snow, highway closures and ferry cancellations

The first day of winter brought snow to many parts of B.C. on Monday, including along the South Coastwhere snowfall and high winds led to power outages and ferry cancellations.

In the province's Interior, snow began accumulating Monday morning, with some highways closed due to the weather.

Environment Canadaexpanded a snowfall warningto include Metro Vancouver after issuing an earlier alert for thesouthern Interior.

The weather agency predictedup to fivecentimetres of snow for the Lower Mainland Monday andforecastup to 20 centimetres for the Interior of the province, with even more for residents in the Kootenaysand mountain communities.

"I've been doing this work in B.C. for 30 years and this is a weird weather system,"said Environment Canada meteorologist Doug Lundquist.

Lundquist says most Interior blizzards are driven by cold northern Arctic air, but that anunusual westerly front hascreated odd conditions.

"It was a record-breaking warm day yesterday, followed up by this ridiculous snow. Very unusual never seen this," he said.

Temperatureshit 10.5 Cin Kelowna on Sunday andsome northern communities also reported above average temperatures over the weekend.

Highways closed

DriveBCissuedtravel advisories for most major passes, including the Coquihalla.

Early Monday afternoon, officials closed the Coquihalla in both directions as a result of multiple incidents.

The Trans Canada near Golden, and Highway 97 near Pine Pass were closed as wellfor avalanche control.

Kelowna RCMP have reported accidents throughout the Central Okanagan, after early morning rain turned to snow.

"[We're]asking drivers to be aware that the roads are very icy and they need to slow down," said Cpl.JocelynNoseworthy.

Vehicles damaged by snow on Port Mann Bridge

The Ministry of Transportation confirmed that it had reports of two vehicles beingdamaged by falling snow on the Port Mann Bridge one in each direction.

A ministry spokesperson said that bridge and the Alex Fraser Bridge are being carefully monitored, and 'cable collars' have been used to shed accumulated snow fromthe bridge cables.

In Metro Vancouver, Translink said on Monday it was prepared for the season's first snow with various changes to how it operates buses and SkyTrain service.

The transit authority said "bus socks,"which give tires better traction, will be available for routes travelling up Burnaby Mountain and on the North Shore.

The trolley-buscables all 300 kilometres of them will be sprayed by de-icing trucks when there's a risk of frost or ice.

Ferry sailings cancelled

BCFerries announced Monday afternoon that sailings across Georgia Strait would be suspended not due to snowfall, but as a result of high winds. The service is limited to essential travel due to COVID-19 measures.

The cancelled routes include:

• Tsawwassento the Southern Gulf Islands
• Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay (after the 5 p.m. sailing)
• Tsawwassen to Duke Point (after the 5:45 p.m. sailing)
• Horseshoe Bay to Departure Bay (after the 6:35 p.m. sailing)

Routes travelling to the mainland were scheduled to end mid afternoon.

Power outages

BC Hydro crews were busy restoring power for hundreds of customers, with dozens of outages across the province.

The utility reported more than 60,000 customers without power, with the largest impact found in the southern parts of Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland-Sunshine Coast region.

Despite the snowfall warning, EnvironmentCanada is notmaking any forecasts yet fora white Christmas in Metro Vancouver.

There is still time for snow to melt before the big day, if temperatures warm as predicted.

"If we can get through the next 24 hours, then we'll have a white Christmas." said Lundquist.