Western Canada: Snow wreaks havoc in Vancouver as Prairies sink into deep freeze

Editor’s note: The Western Canada newsletter is taking a break for the holidays. This is our last edition of 2022 and we’ll return on Jan. 4.

Good morning. It’s James Keller.

Extreme winter weather is making daily life miserable, or in some cases impossible, across Western Canada.

In coastal British Columbia, heavy snow in the usually temperate region paralyzed operations at the Vancouver airport, with flight cancellations and delays rippling out across the country. Ferries between Vancouver Island and the mainland were cancelled and roads became treacherous or in some cases impassable.

On the Prairies, the problem was the cold. Temperatures sunk to -30 C in some areas, with wind chill that Environment Canada warned would make it feel like -40 to -50. The frigid weather strained the power grid, while prompting school cancellations in Edmonton and bus cancellations in Regina. Events such as the Zoolights display at the Calgary Zoo were put on hold.

Weather warnings covered most of B.C., all of Alberta, and southern regions of Saskatchewan and Manitoba. A blizzard warning was also in effect for Churchill, Man.

More than 100 flights in and out of Vancouver’s airport were cancelled on Tuesday, with more chaos expected on Wednesday. Some passengers reported being kept on planes for hours, and one family told The Globe and Mail’s Mike Hager that they waited 12 hours on the tarmac with their six-month-old baby as they ran out of diapers and formula.

B.C.’s Ministry of Transportation said as much as 30 centimetres of snow fell in some parts of southern Vancouver Island, while Metro Vancouver coped with up to 25 centimetres. The Vancouver airport said it was coping with “mass cancellations” and working to get passengers off planes and into the terminal, while BC Ferries cancelled sailings because of poor visibility and difficulty reaching ferry terminals.

The University of British Columbia, University of Victoria, Simon Fraser University and the B.C. Institute of Technology all cancelled exams or classes on Tuesday.

In other parts of B.C., extreme cold set records, including -46.8 C west of Williams Lake and -37.5 C in the Quesnel area.

Officials on the Prairies warned that the -30 temperatures and the windchill were a dangerous combination, particularly those without adequate shelter and people working outdoors.

The Alberta Electric System Operator, which runs the provincial power grid, reported record demand for power on Monday evening, but there were no interruptions. Spokesperson Leif Sollid said increased demand continued on Tuesday and the agency was expecting imports of electricity from B.C. and Montana to satisfy supply.

Vancouver and surrounding areas are expecting more snow off and on this week before switching to rain and above-zero temperatures by Christmas.

The weather was also expected to improve elsewhere on the Prairies, with places such as Winnipeg and Regina getting up to -20 or better by the weekend. In Calgary, the change will be even more dramatic, going from -30 on Tuesday to plus-three by Boxing Day.

This is the weekly Western Canada newsletter written by B.C. Editor Wendy Cox and Alberta Bureau Chief James Keller. If you’re reading this on the web, or it was forwarded to you from someone else, you can sign up for it and all Globe newsletters here.