Temperatures plunged, snow stacked up, and the Southern Gulf Islands turned white as the latest winter storm made getting around challenging.
Islanders greeted more than 30-40 centimetres of cold, powdery snow by Tuesday morning, Dec. 20, after a hectic Monday that saw deteriorating conditions and a host of ferry warnings, cancellations, re-activations, and re-cancellations.
On-island travel across Salt Spring brought drivers face-to-face with icy conditions and limited visibility, as well as significant snow that taxed plow and sand trucks. Salt Spring Transit buses had to cease operations 6:50 p.m. Monday, when officials said the icy road under the powder was causing concern and lack of stability. Incredibly, by 5:20 a.m. Tuesday one driver had dug out a bus and was running limited service on main roads; service gradually expanded over the course of the day and throughout Wednesday.
As the storm progressed, it became significantly harder to get to — or from — Salt Spring. Seaplanes faced reduced visibility and rougher seas Monday; Harbour Air reported only one of three flights from Salt Spring to Vancouver flew, and the first morning flight on that route Tuesday was cancelled before weather cleared.
BC Ferries struggled with both weather and crewing issues; an early mechanical failure with the Quinitsa’s rescue boat knocked out the Vesuvius-Crofton route at 6 a.m. Monday morning. BC Ferries dispatched a pair of small water taxis for foot passengers by 8:30 a.m. as they sought a replacement rescue boat, eventually sourcing one; sadly, staffing began to come up short as crews headed to shifts faced their own weather-related delays.
On Tuesday, only the 3:35 p.m. sailing from Crofton to Vesuvius departed, and about an hour behind schedule — after which BC Ferries issued a cancellation notice for the rest of the day’s sailings. While Fulford-Swartz Bay sailings ran generally as expected Monday, that route joined the Vesuvius-Croft one in cancelling early morning sailings Tuesday — and all Salish Eagle sailings between Tsawwassen and the Southern Gulf Islands were cancelled Tuesday afternoon. Various routes experienced cancellations continuing on Wednesday.
Environment Canada issued an Arctic outflow warning with wind chill values near -20 Celsius for Wednesday evening, and more snow forecast for overnight Thursday and Friday.