Winter Wonderland - for a day anyway... | News

[mr.x]

Two days of snow heading our way

Gerry Bellett, Vancouver Sun
Published: Friday, November 30, 2007

VANCOUVER - The weather man is promising Lower Mainland residents an interesting weekend with snow in the forecast for Saturday and Sunday, followed by a rapid rise in temperatures with high winds and lots of rain early next week.

Environment Canada issued snow warnings late today as an anticipated five to 10 centimetres of snow was expected in the Vancouver area over the weekend, with snow beginning late Saturday.

Temperatures will remain at around zero before rising to about 4 C as snow turns to rain Sunday afternoon.

Monday will see a warming trend continue, with temperatures peaking at about 12 C as a front containing subtropical moisture moves across the southern parts of the province.

The weather office said it expects to post a storm warning for Monday, with winds of 40 kilometres an hour to 60 km/h expected in the Vancouver area later in the day, combined with heavy rain.

The storm will punch its way through the Fraser Valley and into the Interior and could bring freezing rain to parts of those areas overnight Monday.

On Tuesday, the weather is expected to be mild with showery conditions.

Vancouver and other cities in the region have made plans to deal with what is promising to be the year's first large snowfall. Vancouver has called in 14 truck drivers to begin work at 7 a.m. Saturday salting roads, especially around hospitals and in steep sections of the city. Crews have been salting streets since the weather turned cold, said Murray Wightman, the city's manager for streets.

"We'll have a full shift change overnight Saturday to keep on top of things and to clear whatever snow we have to deal with," said Wightman.

In Burnaby, works crews were loading up the city's 11 salt trucks today, and road crews were given notice they will likely be called out to clear roads.

Richmond will have some road crews come in over the weekend to salt roads ahead of the snowfall, said Suzanne Bycraft, an official with the city's emergency response program.

"We'll salt first. Then if the snow builds up, we'll put the plows out," Bycraft said.

gbellett@png.canwest.com

[Huhu]

The temperature is suddenly going to jump to around 12 degrees by next week tho. I wonder if it'll cause some minor flooding if the snow melts too fast.

[mr.x]

The temperature is suddenly going to jump to around 12 degrees by next week tho. I wonder if it'll cause some minor flooding if the snow melts too fast.

....even worse, it's coming on monday and it's caused by a tropical storm...they say it's going to dump a lot of rain on us.

[Cobalt]

Didn't this happen last year...we had snow then right away lots of rain/wind?

[G-roy]

hmm we were supposed to have a big storm in Kelowna tonight and tomorrow, snowed less than a cm and now it's calling for less than 5cm. big storm my ass. not looking forward to the high temps though, high temps = disgusting water run off.

[dchengg]

will there be possibility of school closures? :D

[Rhino]

the roads in Kamloops are the shits , accedents everywhere , No good .... Man I hate winter .

[mr.x]

will there be possibility of school closures? :D

oh gosh i hope so.

0c, and it's coming down really hard right now....snowflakes are the size of quarters. there's 12cms where i live.

[mr.x]

temperature rose to 1c, and i think it's turning into wet snow now :(....only a matter of time before it turns into torrential rain.

[zivan56]

Was at metrotown an hour ago and there is compacted snow on the road with snow falling, so people were sliding around a bit. In Vancouver, however, it was raining and the roads were just wet with wet snow on the sides. When I left to go towards metrotown at 2pm it was crawling slow (15-20km/h).

[mr.x]

Flood warning issued for Metro Vancouver

Sunny Freeman, The Vancouver Sun
Published: Saturday, December 01, 2007

METRO VANCOUVER - Officials issued a flood watch Sunday as a perfect storm of torrential rains, melting snow and heavy winds was forecast to wreak havoc on rivers, sewers and trees across the Lower Mainland until Tuesday.

A "pineapple express" system of subtropical air from Hawaii was projected to usher in warm moist air and heavy rainfall Sunday night, meaning that river levels are expected to rise and may exceed river banks, B.C. Minister of the Environment Barry Penner said Sunday.

Environment Canada on Sunday issued high-rainfall warnings for Greater Vancouver, Howe Sound and the western Fraser Valley. Rainfall levels were projected to reach 80 millimetres in Greater Vancouver between Sunday night and Tuesday morning, said John McIntyre, forecaster for Environment Canada.

A rapid rise in temperature, set to reach an unseasonable 12 degrees today, compounds the risk of flooding because precipitation sitting on the ground in the form of snow will turn into water, McIntyre said.

A low-pressure system combined with cold air from the Interior brought six centimetres of snow overnight Saturday in the Greater Vancouver region, said McIntyre.

Skiers and snowboarders in Whistler woke up to a 16 centimetre snow dump overnight Saturday, covering the mountain in a 110-centimetre snow base. Some communities on Vancouver Island saw as much as 40 centimetres of snow Sunday.

As heavy snowfall transformed the Lower Mainland into a Winter Wonderland Sunday, transit officials said they were excited to see the precipitation turn back to Vancouver's familiar rain late Sunday.

"I never thought I'd say this in Vancouver," said TransLink spokesman Drew Snider. "But, I'm looking forward to the rain."

Throughout the weekend, trolley buses had problems coping on routes with hills and higher elevations, getting stuck and stalling in the snow. The SkyTrain system experienced false alarms on the platform triggered by the heavy snow.

Police checked cars for snow tires on the Sea to Sky Highway, issuing fines and turning people back if their tires did not have the proper 3.5-millimetre tread, said Whistler RCMP spokesman Cpl. Joe Leeson.

On Saturday, the snow delayed departures at YVR by about 15 minutes. But there were no delays on Sunday departures due to winter conditions, said Diana Barkely, director of communications for Vancouver Airport Authority.

All runways were operational, but Barkely said there were delays on arriving flights due to stormy weather conditions in cities across the continent. Many regions across Canada are experiencing stormy winter weather, with major storm systems battering Ontario and the Maritimes as well as the West Coast.

Weather warnings were still in place Sunday night for much of B.C., Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes, with snow and severe weather expected across the country.

sfreeman@png.canwest.com

[Huhu]

Tons of snow and then buckets of rain before all of it can melt. I wonder if there will be any collapsed roofs in the city.

[spongeg]

it was a really warm 12c this afternoon - nice change and weird to see pretty much all the snow gone

[mr.x]

it was a really warm 12c this afternoon - nice change and weird to see pretty much all the snow gone

it's depressing...

[mr.x]

Rainfall warning for: Greater Vancouver
Issued at 4:20 PM PST MONDAY 3 DECEMBER 2007
FURTHER RAINFALL AMOUNTS UP TO 50 FOR GREATER VANCOUVER INCLUDING THE NORTHSHORE MOUNTAINS..FRASER VALLEY..WEST VANCOUVER ISLAND AND UP TO 80 MM FOR HOWE SOUND THROUGH TONIGHT. THIS IS A WARNING THAT SIGNIFICANT RAINFALL IS EXPECTED OR OCCURRING IN THESE REGIONS. MONITOR WEATHER CONDITIONS..LISTEN FOR UPDATED STATEMENTS.



Wind warning for: Greater Vancouver
Issued at 4:20 PM PST MONDAY 3 DECEMBER 2007
SOUTHERLY WINDS OF 60 TO 90 KM/H IS EXPECTED OVER GREATER VANCOUVER EAST VANCOUVER ISLAND SUNSHINE COAST AND WESTERN FRASER VALLEY AND HOWE SOUND THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH EVENING. NORTHERLY OUTFLOW WINDS OF 80 TO 100 KM/H WILL CONTINUE FOR THE CENTRAL COAST - COASTAL SECTIONS TODAY AND TONIGHT. THIS IS A WARNING THAT POTENTIALLY DAMAGING WINDS ARE EXPECTED OR OCCURRING IN THESE REGIONS. MONITOR WEATHER CONDITIONS..LISTEN FOR UPDATED STATEMENTS.


UPDATE: The Stanley Park seawall is closed again, there has been another major slide.

[worldwide]

wow. the seawall is getting beat up.

i had to take the greyhound from abbotsford to vancouver on sunday. im sure you can all imagine how much fun that was