An intense winter storm brought storm warnings, heavy snow and hazardous weather conditions to the Interior of B.C. on Sunday and Monday with Interior travelers advised to consider postponing non-essential travel until conditions improved. From 40 to 50 centimeters of snow was dumped from McLure to Little Fort, with some areas reporting even more.
For the first time in some 37 years, School District 73 closed all schools on both Monday and Tuesday due to the perceived dangers of staff and students travelling on low visibility and snow covered roads. Thompson Rivers University also cancelled classes on the Monday.
Environment Canada meteorologists stated that Arctic air in the valley-bottoms of the Southern Interior was being slowly mixed with milder air moving in at the level of the mountain-tops, with more overrunning warm and moist air expected and temperatures persisting below zero in the valleys.
At press time Tuesday morning, Environment Canada had advised the worst of the storm was over, saying that a secondary impulse was pushing the storm out of the area and was then bringing freezing rain for the North Thompson.
While some major Interior highways were closed due to avalanche risk or road conditions, the Yellowhead remained open, although under compact snow and freezing rain.
