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(UPDATE: Aug. 27 @ 3:50 pm) - At 3:46 pm, Environment Canada issued a special weather statement for the Okanagan Connector (Hwy 97C).
"A trough of low pressure over southern Interior is bringing showers and a cooler airmass to the region," the alert reads. "With snow levels lowering to near 1600 metres, period of snow is expected near (the) Pennask Summit along Hwy 97C."
It urges drivers to be prepared for "quickly-changing and winter-like driving conditions."
(Original story: Aug. 27 @ 3:20 pm) - No, you’re not seeing things; that’s snow on the Okanagan Connector (Hwy 97C).
It may still be August, but the weather took a fall turn across the southern Interior today and it certainly showed at higher elevations.
There was a reported hailstorm on the Coquihalla Highway earlier in the day, followed by some fairly steady snowfall on Hwy 97C this afternoon.
Photo Credit: DriveBC
Highway webcams show the accumulation of snow between 2:30 pm and 3:15 pm today.
DriveBC webcams show that the flakes began to fall in the Elkhart Road area shortly before 2 pm and they’re still falling as of 3:15 pm.
While it isn’t sticking on the roadway, there has been a decent amount of snow accumulation on the grass and trees around the pavement to give it a bit of a wintry feel.
A photo from the Sunset Main Road area posted to the Coquihalla Road Reports Facebook group around 3 pm offered an even better glimpse into the conditions at the highest points of Hwy 97C.
Photo Credit: Stefanie O'Neill/Coquihalla Road Reports Facebook group
Stefanie O’Neill’s post received hundreds of likes and shares in a matter of minutes, as people were clearly not ready to see that kind of photo shared on Aug. 27.
“It begins lol,” wrote one commenter, while another asked if this was an April Fools’ Day joke.
“Ready or not, here we go,” one lady added. “Snow tires on early?”
With more typical sunny weather in the forecast for later this week, putting on the snow tires might be a bit of an overreaction, but we are just five short weeks away from those regulations going into effect on Oct. 1.
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