It might be June, but a special weather statement regarding January-like conditions for some parts of B.C. is calling for snow on highways.
According to Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), a special weather statement is in effect between this morning and Wednesday morning, and it could affect commuters who are travelling through both the Kootenay Pass and the Pennask Summit.
ECCC is blaming an “upper disturbance,” which is expected to pass over Southern B.C., and it “could bring some snow to some high elevation highway passes.”
“Snow levels are set to lower to around 1700 metres today and will linger until Wednesday. Kootenay Pass is most likely to see potential snow accumulation this afternoon, whereas Pennask Summit is more likely to see snow accumulation tonight,” ECCC adds.
ECCC is predicting between trace amounts and up to 4 cm of snow, while also warning that visibility could be reduced at times, and to prepare for quickly changing and deteriorating travel conditions.
“Weather in the mountains can change suddenly, resulting in hazardous driving conditions.”
Much of the province is currently facing cooler-than-normal conditions.
According to ECCC’s weather summaries, one B.C. region even broke a 44-year-old weather record.
ECCC says that the trail area reached a new low temperature of 3.7°C. The old record of 4°C was previously set in 1982, and records in that region have been kept since 1928.
The Vancouver area, which is also under a bit of a cooler period, will also see temperatures spike quite a bit over the next seven days. Today, ECCC is calling for a high of 17°C, but by next week, we could be seeing summer-like temperatures of up to 25°C.
ECCC also says that there’s a risk of thunderstorms near the North Shore for this afternoon, and more rain is expected in Vancouver tonight.
ECCC