Freezing rain leads to icy conditions on Lower Mainland roads
Posted January 19, 2024 7:10 am.
Last Updated January 19, 2024 1:20 pm.
The roads remain dicey Friday morning as the weather transitions away from snow to rain and freezing rain across much of the region.
Listen to CityNews 1130 LIVE now!There are reports of crashes, skidding, and cars slipping and sliding on both major and minor routes.
One commercial vehicle owner in Chilliwack tells CityNews he’s grounded his entire fleet because the road conditions are so bad.
“Freezing rain is actually making contact, freezing on contact. The roads have become quite slick. Wiper blades are already beginning to freeze up. There’s also a frost on top of the freezing rain. You see some occasional wind drifts coming across the highway,” he said Friday morning.
One caller to our newsroom says, “It’s like a skating rink,” near Cypress Mountain.
Abbotsford Police Sgt. Paul Walker spent part of his morning on Highway 1 near Mount Lehman. “We strongly encourage everyone travelling this morning, if necessary, to slow down. Lots of ice on the road, on the highways, on the feeder routes.”
With temperatures hovering around zero and the melt officially underway in many areas, there are also a lot of reports of pooling water in Vancouver, Burnaby, the Tri-Cities, to Richmond.
The River Forecast Centre says the snowmelt shouldn’t pose major concerns about widespread flooding, but warns, there may be some localized flooding if people don’t clear catch basins because all that melting snow and rain has to go somewhere.
It says it’s also tracking a large rain event near the end of next week and reminds everyone as fast as the snow is melting down here, the precipitation remains snow in the mountains.
Listen to CityNews 1130 for weather updates after traffic every 10 minutes on the ones. You can also follow Meteorologist Michael Kuss on X and subscribe to breaking news alerts sent directly to your inbox.
–With files from Cole Schisler and Dean Recksiedler
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to correct Sgt. Paul Walker’s name.
