Many Vancouver Islanders awoke to a surprise snowstorm Saturday morning as several centimetres of snow fell across parts of the east Island.
Generally, two to five centimetres fell, but highway maintenance contractor Mainroad North Island reported ten centimetres fell in some areas.
“Definitely peaked for a few hours of heavier snowfall and the forecasts were fairly accurate and we got our five to ten centimetres that we were expecting,” said Mainroad’s Justin Burgers.
Just when it seemed spring was springing, snowplows were put back into service as road conditions deteriorated around daybreak.
Snow began falling overnight and Environment Canada issued a Snowfall Warning for East Vancouver Island shortly after 8 a.m..
Courtenay to Campbell River was predicted to get five to ten centimetres. The snow stopped falling shortly after the warning was issued.
Many other areas including Port Alberni, Nanaimo, Gold River and Port McNeill also saw falling snow.
Mainroad is cautioning people driving at night to be careful.
“We’re going to be in a few freeze-thaw cycles over the next two to three days so freezing road conditions at night is what people should be paying attention to,” said Burgers.
Much of the snow had melted by Saturday evening.
Dean Stoltz
