Cold enough for ya?Calgarians can take solace after waking up to the coldest day of the year. At least they’re not in the Lower Mainland.Lotusland is in chaos after waking up to two cm of snow and temperatures that fell to -10C Thursday night. Vancouver police were urging motorists to stay off the roads after a 25-car pileup on Highway 91 east of Nelson road last night. The BC Transportation Ministry was forced to close the George Massey Tunnel — the one that runs under the Fraser River near the airport — because of “extremely slippery conditions” that caused multiple vehicles to spin out of control and block traffic..Multiple buses lost control and hit medians, blocking traffic on Highway 1 through North Vancouver. Likewise, the TransLink LRT to the Vancouver International Airport was experiencing delays.Ferry sailings were cancelled or delayed between Victoria and the Southern Gulf Islands and Vancouver extending into Friday morning.The capital Victoria — which usually gets 350 frost free days a year — got the brunt of the storm and woke up to its coldest day of the year on Friday, at -10C amid crashing waves. Wind chills made it feel like -20C, although the city itself managed to dodge most of the snow.Social workers were out searching the streets for the homeless, although the city didn’t open emergency shelters — ostensibly because there were sufficient available spaces in existing shelters.All parts of the country were under some kind of weather alert on Friday morning, including all of Alberta which is under a severe cold warning. Exposed skin can freeze in less than a minute.Calgarians woke up to a morning low of -36C after two days of snowfall amounts totalling about 12 cm. The good news is temperatures are expected to moderate over the weekend, reaching a daytime high of -6C by Tuesday.
Cold enough for ya?Calgarians can take solace after waking up to the coldest day of the year. At least they’re not in the Lower Mainland.Lotusland is in chaos after waking up to two cm of snow and temperatures that fell to -10C Thursday night. Vancouver police were urging motorists to stay off the roads after a 25-car pileup on Highway 91 east of Nelson road last night. The BC Transportation Ministry was forced to close the George Massey Tunnel — the one that runs under the Fraser River near the airport — because of “extremely slippery conditions” that caused multiple vehicles to spin out of control and block traffic..Multiple buses lost control and hit medians, blocking traffic on Highway 1 through North Vancouver. Likewise, the TransLink LRT to the Vancouver International Airport was experiencing delays.Ferry sailings were cancelled or delayed between Victoria and the Southern Gulf Islands and Vancouver extending into Friday morning.The capital Victoria — which usually gets 350 frost free days a year — got the brunt of the storm and woke up to its coldest day of the year on Friday, at -10C amid crashing waves. Wind chills made it feel like -20C, although the city itself managed to dodge most of the snow.Social workers were out searching the streets for the homeless, although the city didn’t open emergency shelters — ostensibly because there were sufficient available spaces in existing shelters.All parts of the country were under some kind of weather alert on Friday morning, including all of Alberta which is under a severe cold warning. Exposed skin can freeze in less than a minute.Calgarians woke up to a morning low of -36C after two days of snowfall amounts totalling about 12 cm. The good news is temperatures are expected to moderate over the weekend, reaching a daytime high of -6C by Tuesday.
