Winter storm continues to dump snow on southern Interior mountain passes

PENTICTON – Travellers continue to face challenging driving conditions on mountain passes in the southern Interior as the winter storm warning is continued today for the Coquihalla Highway from Merritt to Hope and Highway 3 from Princeton to Hope.

Environment Canada has continued the winter storm warning for the two sections of mountain highway this morning, Dec. 19.

The warning says the Merritt to Hope section of the Coquihalla Highway could get an additional five to 10 centimetres of snow today adding to the 35 cm that has accumulated since Monday night. Flurries, at times heavy, are expected this morning.

Highway 3 will see similar conditions after 30 cm of snow fell over Allision Pass in the last 36 hours. Another 15 to 25 cm is anticipated before flurries ease later this morning.

Be prepared to adjust your driving to changing road conditions as visibility could be reduced at times in heavy snow, the warning states.

Howling winds and intense rain have also damaged what BC Hydro describes as "transmission structure" on the Sunshine Coast, prompting immediate repairs before another powerful storm is due to hammer the south coast on Thursday.

The Crown utility says via social media that repairs will require a total power outage from 9:30 to 2:30 p.m., affecting the area from Lund to Saltery Bay, including the city of Powell River as well as Cortez and Texada islands.

The Powell River school district says on its website that the outage means all schools in District 47 will be closed for the day, although classes are expected to resume Thursday.

For the very latest on weather warnings in the Interior go to Environment Canada's website here.

For the latest road conditions check out the Drive B.C. website here.

— With files from The Canadian Press

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