Snow kidding: Drivers and shovellers, be on guard
More of the white stuff on the way, though we don’t know how much
Keep your winter boots handy because the ice caked onto Lower Mainland streets and sidewalks isn’t about to cave and things could get much worse before it gets much better, say meteorologists and city engineers.
Snow is on the menu straight through to the end of the work week, threatening to significantly prolong the region’s first snowstorm of the season. But for Bobby Sekhon, a meteorologist with Environment Canada, the big question is how much of it will fall on Tuesday night in particular.
“That’s something we’re working pretty hard at nailing down here. There’s quite a bit of uncertainty as to how much. We could see as little as just a few centimetres or as much as several. There’s a lot of variability in the forecast right now,” he said.
Ultimately, Environment Canada is predicting a return to much warmer temperatures and rain by the weekend, Sekhon said.
“Hopefully it will be a transition such that we don’t have a lot of the freeze/thaw,” he said. “If we get temperatures above zero and then freezing at night, then that can make driving pretty dangerous at times.”
Among those in the region dealing with the roadways motorists rely on is Erin Watts, the City of Vancouver’s manager of street operations. Watts said crews in that municipality are “in full snow response mode” and have been since Thursday. That means the city’s trucks are hitting all priority routes and working 24 hours per day.
“We expect that to continue through the entire week. We don’t expect to see a let-up until the weekend at this point,” she said.
“We’re prepared at this point for salting and plowing the roads if we get snow accumulations. If it does dry up we’re going to be transitioning to brine as well as a pre-treatment before any more snow falls.”
Ray Kerr, the manager of engineering operations at the City of Surrey, said his crews are working all 39 of the city’s plows and spreaders around the clock trying to mop up the snow and ice.
His message to residents in that city? “Be patient. We can’t be everywhere at once and we’ll get there as quick as we can.”
For now, that city’s crews are still dealing with what it calls “Priority 1” roads: major arterials, steep roads, bus routes and streets that access emergency services. After that, the city will attend to collector roads and then local streets.
TransLink staff are advising transit users around the region to give themselves extra time to get around this week. SkyTrain service was disrupted for some riders during the Monday morning commute, and HandyDart was limited to essential service only, said Dan Mountain, a spokesman for the transit authority.
Tire socks — fabric and Kevlar tire covers used to improve traction — were used on some 40-foot buses making the trip up and down Burnaby Mountain on Sunday, and while they were on hand for use Monday, they had not been needed as of early afternoon, he said.
Meanwhile, many sidewalks in the region remained icy and treacherous for those on foot.
Daniel Fontaine, CEO of the B.C. Care Providers Association, asked home and business property owners to act on their obligation to keep their sidewalks clear and salted, partly out of concern for seniors and their caregivers.
“Many people take it for granted that they can get to and from their homes even with slippery conditions. For seniors and home support workers who have to walk in these treacherous conditions, it is a significant risk,” Fontaine said in a news release.
The City of Vancouver has opened additional warming centres for those living on the streets to make sure everyone can come inside from the cold, said Celine Mauboules, the City of Vancouver’s director of homelessness services. A full list of locations is available on the city’s website.