By James Peters

Another blast of winter on its way to the Coquihalla

Oct 29, 2018 | 4:05 PM

KAMLOOPS — As a sunny and mild month of October draws to a close, Mother Nature is reminding B.C. Interior residents that winter can strike the high elevations at any time.

The Coquihalla Highway was closed in both directions between Hope and Merritt for two-and-a-half hours Sunday due to a vehicle incident in snow and ice.

Environment Canada’s Doug Lundquist says another blast of winter is on its way Tuesday evening into Wednesday morning.

But Lundquist says the white stuff shouldn’t be falling much lower in elevation than the Great Bear Snowshed.

“Right now, it’s just at the point where it’s melting, kind of, at the passes. It’s really close to zero; maybe just a degree or two below zero. So I wouldn’t expect it an awful lot lower than that,” said Lundquist.

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While valley-bottom communities like Kamloops have seen a lot of sunshine in October, Lundquist says no one should be surprised to see winter conditions arriving.

“We tend to have swings between warmer periods and colder periods. That’s pretty typical for this time of year and having the chance of warmer weather yet coming toward the end of the week, that’s certainly within the realm,” said Lundquist. “But yes, there are times when we do have a lot more snow by this time in October and pushing early November right away.”

The forecast is for up to 10 centimeters of snow to fall on the Coquihalla between Merritt and Hope tonight and overnight, with 5 centimeters forecast between Merritt and Kamloops. In Kamloops itself, rain will be the order of the day from now through Thursday.