Two days of record snowfall, a weekend of flurries highlighted by thunder snow and a freak storm during Monday’s rush hour in Richmond challenged the best of drivers, shut down the Canada Line and kept city crews working around the clock.
And worse may be on the way.
All in, YVR recorded 31 centimetres of snow since Friday. On Friday and Saturday, the airport recorded 12 and 10.6 centimetres, respectively, breaking the previous daily records of 10.7 and 5.8.
Trains on the Canada Line became stuck heading north on Friday and Monday nights. On Monday night, TransLink shuttled passengers over the Oak Street Bridge with buses. Some passengers chose to walk across the bridge, between Bridgeport and Marine Drive stations.
Richmond News’ director of advertising, Rob Akimow, was in the stalled train. He said TransLink staff kept passengers well informed, people remained calm and, within 90 minutes, a rescue train had arrived to pull his train back to Bridgeport.
Train trouble on the Canada Line. #weather #Vancouver #translink #canadaline pic.twitter.com/MJFfa2TzX7
— David WM Fisher (@david_wm_fisher) February 7, 2017
However, Akimow said no assistance was offered once passengers disembarked.
On Friday, the Canada Line was shut down when, according to one passenger, sparks could be seen from the windows as the train headed north from Aberdeen station.
At Bridgeport, passengers were told to disembark and that buses would take them to Downtown Vancouver; however, the wait was extremely long and many took cabs.
The snow also hampered car traffic in and out of the city Monday, with accidents on the Alex Fraser and Arthur Laing bridges causing major delays.
Adding to the confusion on Tuesday morning, commuters were blocked from crossing the train tracks near Shell Road at Alderbridge Way, when lights began flashing and barriers came down, despite the fact no train was coming.
After a lengthy delay, some people began lifting a barrier to let others through, while others directed traffic through the flashing lights.
Despite calls to 911, there appeared to be no authority taking charge of the situation.
This is the second time in a week that lights were flashing and a crossing was blocked for no reason during rush hour, with the intersection of Westminster Highway and Shell causing issues.
Prior to the snowfalls, City of Richmond crews began working around the clock to salt the main arterial roads. Their efforts proved successful for most of the weekend and were helped by temperatures hovering just above freezing on Saturday.
As pockets of warmer air masses were reported by Environment Canada, many Richmondites were intrigued and/or surprised by a brief episode of thunder snow. Many people reported on social media a bright bolt of lightning east of the Garden City Lands.
Monday night’s short blizzard reset streets to sheets of ice, but crews again worked around the clock to clear them by Tuesday morning. Side streets remained icy.
The city deployed 10 plows with salters to cover 240-kilometres of first and second priority roads.
Residents lauded the works crews online.
Meanwhile, schools remained opened in Richmond but closed in many eastern Lower Mainland municipalities that saw more than double the snowfall, thanks to colder temperatures. By Monday, Chilliwack was reported to have received 80 centimetres of snow.
The city reminded residents on social media to clear their vehicle lights of snow.
This advice may prove relevant once again on Wednesday night and Thursday morning, as heavy snow is in the forecast.
“The last Pacific storm this week is expected to arrive late Wednesday in the form of a strong warm front. The front will move in from the south and spread warmer, moist air into the region Wednesday night. With Arctic air in place, there will be heavy snow initially Wednesday night along with a good chance of freezing rain. This will be followed by significant rainfall on Thursday,” stated Environment Canada.
The federal weather agency posted a storm warning late Tuesday afternoon.
City of Richmond spokesperson Ted Townsend said city crews will be salting roads around the clock with the expectation that a large amount of snow is expected Wednesday evening through Thursday.
He said once the snow turns to rain and temperatures increase, crews will begin clearing drains.
The city doesn't have a snow removal bylaw for single-family homes but able-bodied residents are advised to clear their sidewalks and help seniors and disabled residents do the same.
That bylaw is under review.
