The University of the Fraser Valley’s Hope campus, Fraser-Cascade School District 78 and Yale First Nation have all called a snow day by Monday morning.
This comes after Hope received 5-10 centimetres of snow, according to a preliminary report by Environment Canada. The Fraser Canyon received 10-20 cm.
SD78 superintendent Karen Nelson said the school district consulted their transportation supervisor and called the snow day in the morning, noting that there was a snowfall warning issued yesterday for the overnight period and the morning.
“There was limited visibility this morning due to snow and blowing snow,” said Nelson. “Due to the large amount of snow which fell overnight and early this morning, side roads had not been plowed.
“As well, there was a large accumulation of snow on sidewalks which makes it dangerous for students walking to school.
“The weather warning also indicated there may be freezing rain later this morning and afternoon. Due to all of these factors, it was deemed unsafe for buses to run and schools to remain open.”
UFV also made a decision to close the Hope campus. All other UFV campuses stayed open.
UFV spokesperson Dave Pinton said UFV makes decisions in an early morning conference call with senior administrators. They consult staff, weather and road reports as well as first-hand reports from people at their campuses to decide.
“Today the heavy snow at Hope and an on-scene evaluation of the centre’s parking lot and approach streets resulted in UFV making the decision to close the Hope Centre,” said Pinton.
Pinton added that UFV generally closes campuses if maintaining roads, parking lots and sidewalk becomes impossible, if there are road advisories or closures on the main highways that link our campuses and if buildings become unsafe because of reasons such as extended power outages, water damage, roof stress.
YFN also closed their band office because of poor road conditions. Chief Ken Hansen said the office has staff travelling from Chilliwack, Dogwood Valley and from Hope.
However, Hansen is still working today.
“As you can appreciate I don’t have days off,” said Hansen. “I am still working even if the office is closed. So it is not a snow day for me.”
