Wintery gusts of arctic air shook tall trees like dry grass in the Comox Valley Sunday, and snow squalls rolled in from Northern Vancouver Island down.
It gave road crews who were preparing highways a good idea that the forecasted big freeze and snow storm, was right at their doorstep.
“It’s going down into the basement,” said Mainroad Contracting North Island foreman Dean Phillips.
“High winds and temperatures, freezing levels, everything coming down,” he said.
“Like they’re even saying minus 10 by tomorrow,” said Phillips.
So it was all hands on deck at the Cumberland Mainroad yard to take advantage of the small window between clearing roads of new snow, and the daytime melt.
“Get everything ready for the cold,” said Mainroad Contracting North Island worker Graham Jones.
Mainroad crews rushed to salt and then sand roads to make travel safer, before temperatures plummeted.
“We’re trying to keep the public safe and keep the roads thawed,” said Jones.
“Yeah I mean that’s not normal for the coast, right,” said Phillips.
“We’re usually around the freezing mark to minus four is typical,” he said.
Yet road crews say they’ve prepared as best they can. Got sand on the mountain, all the guys are ready to go, got everything they need and then we’ll just pull the trigger and give er. Drivers are being urged to give road clearing crews a wide berth as they go about their jobs this week, in both unseasonal cold, and snowfall, that experts say could last all week.
Skye Ryan
