It’s been a long Family Day weekend of snow-blowing and shovelling across the mid-Island, but it’s hard to find anyone who is upset by it.
“Oh, I love the snow. We get it so seldom that I just love it,” said Barb McCombe who shovelled her driveway in Comox on Monday.
Drivers on Highway 19 near Courtenay may have liked it a bit less Monday morning as road conditions deteriorated once again after more snow fell overnight.
On Highway 19A, a driver went off the road and into some trees south of Royston and was shaken up after hitting the snow on the side of the road. They were not seriously hurt.
Road conditions were much improved by early afternoon as temperatures warmed up and the snow stopped.
Back in Courtenay, the sale of spring seeds was taking off at Canadian Tire before the storm hit. Now, the store had a late winter run on snow tires. Toboggans are also selling fast and just when you thought you wouldn’t need to use a shovel again this winter, they too are flying off the shelves.
“I think we all got a little reset there to remind us that it’s only February and it’s not uncommon for us to get a taste of winter into February and March,” said Courtenay Canadian Tire GM Keith Pistell.
He says he still has a large supply of shovels and winter tires if yet another storm hits the island.
On the west coast of the Island, Ucluelet had a very snowy weekend as well, something that’s even more unusual.
People took to the streets this Family Day to enjoy their sleds and toboggans after 20 cm of snow fell over the weekend.
“It’s been a long time since we’ve seen anything like this,” said Ucluelet Mayor Mayco Noel. “Usually, we get a little teaser of two to three inches but as you can imagine every kid was enjoying these hills like it was going to Mount Washington but it was right here locally so it was quite impressive.”
But it looks like the snow day fun is coming to an end for Vancouver Island as Environment Canada lifted all snowfall warnings on Monday afternoon.
READ MORE: No more flurries: snowfall warnings lifted for all of Vancouver Island
Dean Stoltz
