Slushy snow begins – Hump and Sutton Pass potentially treacherous tonight.

UPDATE — OR IT COULD SNOW RIGHT NOW

Drive safely out there. This might continue all day and into tonight!!

Most snow focused on East Side and Mountain Passes

By the time I went up and over the Hump this morning at 6:30AM there was wet snow falling and accumulating across the Island but especially around Nanaimo. If you are on the roads today and tomorrow, please drive with extreme caution.

Accumulation Totals – Monday+Tuesday

Here is the picture for what the model expects will accumulate between today and Wednesday.

The white areas are places where no snow is expected to stick around. You can see that that includes much of the Alberni Valley, parts of the Cowichan Valley, Parksville and Victoria.

That said, these mixtures of rain, sleet and snow are the hardest thing for these models to predict so while the higher elevation totals into the 30-60cm are solid, those low elevation totals could vary greatly.

Environment Canada Warnings – Snow, Rain, Wind.

Here are the Inland (Port Alberni) statements, East Coast (Nanoose to Fanny Bay), and West Coast. Check your area’s forecast for the link to the statements. We might even see a Winter Storm warning appear if any Wind and Snowfall warnings combine in any of our areas. (Most likely parts of the East Coast).

Timing – Alberni Hump and Sutton Pass worst after dark.

Expect the snow and/or rain to intensify this afternoon and be strongest in the 7PM-10PM hours as the front passes overhead. This will also be the point of strongest wind.

This could produce a real mess on Tuesday morning as the rain/snow mix will linger past sunrise on Tuesday. We can see in the model below most of the activity sticking around the high elevations with rain on the West Coast and Victoria.

Cold later in the week.

Finally, we can expect cold temperatures starting Wednesday and continuing. Below is the picture for Thursday morning with the Alberni Valley down below -4ºC.