Like a popular 1945 song says, the weather outside was frightful…
Let it Snow quickly became a Christmas favourite, but the storm that dumped 46 centimetres of snow in the Shuswap in less than 48 hours didn’t leave many people singing.
An Environment Canada update at 10 a.m. Monday, Jan. 5 revealed that 35 centimetres of the white stuff had fallen at the Salmon Arm Airport.
“And it’s still snowing,” said warning preparedness meteorologist Lisa Coldwells.
“It’s one heck of a snow day and we expect another 10 to 15 centimetres before it is snowed out by tomorrow morning.”
But as much as the snow fell, breaking records was looking iffy.
Environment Canada uses daily measurements taken between 12 a.m. and midnight on any given day.
The record for a one-day snowfall in that time frame was 33 centimetres on Dec. 27, 1998.
“If you’re going to be extremely technical, it’s not a record,” Coldwells said, noting Salmon Arm’s extreme snow depth, a record for accumulated snow, was 87 cm measured on Jan. 24, 1993.
In terms of a two-day record, this one will go down in history as Salmon Arm’s fourth heaviest snowfall.
Environment Canada files indicate 51 cm fell in a two-day period in 1918, 49 cm on Jan 8 and 9, 1969, with the all-time two-day record of 53 cm set in 1943.
And you can blame winter’s onslaught on the “Pineapple Express.”
A surge of cold Arctic air from the Yukon that settled into the valleys was covered by a large warm air mass originating in Hawaii.
“The two (air masses) are battling it out,” said Coldwells Monday. “And there has been a continuous flow; that’s one of the keys for making it snow for what seems forever.”
That forever snow caused havoc in the Shuswap, closing schools and challenging travellers, city road crews and businesses.
Some areas of Sunnybrae and Silver Creek were without power.
After initially saying schools would be open, School District #83 reversed course at 7:42 a.m. Monday and closed all schools. The news that schools in the district would be closed for a second snow day came early Monday evening. Okanagan College also cancelled classes for two days.
BC Transit was forced to suspend operations in the Shuswap on Monday, while city crews and contractors were working around the clock to deal with the heavy snowfall.
Rob Niewenhuizen, director of public works, said all available resources were first working on priority roads that include arterial and collector streets – some of which required clearing multiple times.
“We have close to 300 kilometres of priority-one arterial and collector streets in the district, from Canoe to Gleneden and in between, so we have been clearing those first, only to have to go back and re-clear as the snow has been falling,” he said. “Snow plows will remain on main roads until the snowfall stops and once all priority-one routes have been cleared, the crews will concentrate their efforts on clearing residential streets.”
Niewenhuizen said crews were trying to punch through one-lane access in some residential areas as they passed by, but the focus was on the main roadways.
Sidewalk plowing was also started in limited areas Monday, but was being hampered because of the depth of snow and the fact that plowing had pushed snow onto the sidewalks.
Residents were also reminded of the danger these snow piles can pose and asked to keep children from playing along the roadside where they could be invisible to snowplow operators.
Salmon Arm RCMP reported few problems despite the weather, with Staff Sgt. Kevin Keane saying there were few issues.
“We only had eight calls over the 24-hour period. Probably the slowest day for us for the year,” he said.
At 2 p.m., on Sunday, Jan. 4, police responded to a roll-over collision on the Trans-Canada Highway near Second Nations Road. The driver lost control and landed in the ditch. There were no injuries.
An emergency radio scanner reported an ambulance stuck in snow at Balmoral and a “critical shortage” of ambulances in the Shuswap around 8 p.m. Jan. 4, but Observer calls to the BC Ambulance Service remained unanswered at press time.
The storm did not, however, have much effect on Shuswap Lake General Hospital.
Mark Pugh, SLGH manager, says about four staff members from Revelstoke were unable to get to work Monday because of avalanche control on the Trans-Canada Highway.
“We managed to pull things together,” he said, noting local resources were available.
“Once the roads reopened staff from Revelstoke and other outlying areas managed to make it in.”
While the hospital is at 130 per cent occupancy right now, it’s due to the typical catalogue of winter issues rather than storm-related ones.
Back on the weather front, Coldwells said a winter storm warning was left in effect for Salmon Arm Tuesday as a band of freezing rain was on the back end of the snowstorm.
“It’s almost done,” she said at 10:30 yesterday morning, pointing out the area would soon be experiencing the Shuswap’s normal dull, grey winter weather, with the mercury hovering around zero and with very little temperature change.
And a forecast of “a bit more snow,” for Friday should not cause undue fear as it will be nothing like the area experienced earlier in the week.