We were all digging out this morning (Mon) from varying amounts of snowfall.
Nanaimo was hit hard getting from 20 to 40 centimeters of snow and Ladysmith was buried under 40 centimeters of snow.
On the Sunshine Coast, there are reports up to 10 centimeters of snowfall.
Environment Canada meteorologist Armel Castellan says another system is on the way.
“We are looking at, depending on the location, 2 to 4 centimeters this afternoon, another ten, or even up to 15 especially on the Island tonight and then another 5 tomorrow. So, this is another snowmaker for sure.”
Snowfall warnings are in effect for the Sunshine Coast and East Vancouver Island.
The snowfall doesn’t seem to be affecting the ferry services at all and no power outages have been reported on the Sunshine Coast but there are a couple of pockets of outages in the Nanaimo area.
Mainroad is working to get the side roads clear before the next weather system hits.
Operations manager Geoff Gwynne says there’s a process crews follow when the snow hits.
“They focus their efforts, in the early part of the storm when it’s snowing that hard particularly on the main routes and then once we’ve got them taken care of we will shift over on to the bus and commercial routes. Once those are taken care of we move on to the residential side roads.”
As for the highways, Gwynne said crews have cleared the roads and will apply salt or a salt brine.
Once the remaining snow turns to slush, they’ll come along and clear that off as well.
He said it’s important not to pass a snow plow.
“Those are large, heavy vehicles and in some cases, visibility is quite restricted so we really would appreciate it if people would leave them lots of room to work, stay well back, particularly if they are dispensing material or plowing snow. Never attempt to pass one on the right. Just be aware that there’s a lot going on in the cab of that truck, those operators are very busy and the further you can stay away from them the better.”
On the Sunshine Coast, Capilano crews are also out working on the main thoroughfares first before clearing the side roads.
Most BC Transit routes are running on what’s called winter routing.
The spokesperson for BC Transit is Jonathon Dyck.
“We continually re-evaluate the roads throughout the day and make decisions about what type of service levels we can operate and implement detours and cancellations as appropriate. Of course, it’s our top priority to run all routes on schedule but on days like today when you are having adverse weather events and adverse road conditions we have to make sure we are keeping safety top of mind and that’s what we are doing on the Island and Sunshine Coast.”
Due to the heavy snowfall, there’s likely no garbage pick up in our listening areas today.
In Ladysmith, officials say the driver has done his best to pick up garbage but the snowy conditions have made it impossible to get to some homes, even with chains and shoveling.
Residents are advised, if their garbage isn’t picked up, to bring it back in and take it back out to the curb on your next garbage pick up day.
The trucks will continue to attempt to make their pick ups.
In Nanaimo, garbage pick-up is canceled for today.
Residents are asked to remove their carts from the street to allow more room for plowing.
Extra garbage will be picked up during the next cycle and residents can put out one extra bag next to their cart.
City crews will have extra staff on hand to re-load the carts to collect that extra bag.
As for plowing within the city, it has been underway all night and continues throughout the day.
Priority routes are dealt with first (main roads, including emergency routes).
Once priority routes are finished, then crews move onto secondary roads.
Once secondary routes are plowed, City crews will plow residential areas, such as culs-de-sac.
