Most of British Columbia is covered by weather warnings as snow, extreme cold and arctic winds grip the province, forcing the suspension of all flights at Vancouver International Airport and playing havoc with transportation across the south coast.
Officials with the Ministry of Transportation said as much as 30 centimetres of snow had covered parts of southern Vancouver Island while Metro Vancouver coped with up to 25 centimetres.
Environment Canada forecast another five to 10 would fall before conditions were expected to ease.
Vancouver International Airport temporarily suspended all incoming and outgoing flights early Tuesday, holding departing aircraft at their gates, stranding passengers aboard some arriving flights for hours, as those planes had no place to go.
A statement from YVR said it was dealing with the “mass cancellations” and working to “to deplane passengers safely and deliver luggage to them in the terminal.”
“Passengers who are expecting to fly today and this week are advised to check with their airline directly on the status of their flight. We are asking people to please not come to YVR if you do not absolutely need to,” airport spokeswoman Megan Sutton said in an emailed statement.
“We recognize the effect these cancellations have on our community. We sincerely apologize to all of those impacted.”
The airport was crowded with stranded travellers, many sitting or sleeping on the floor.
A tweet from Victoria International Airport said flights had been “mostly cancelled” in the morning, while its website showed one departure by noon. Kelowna International Airport was also suffering, with most flights delayed or cancelled.
BC Ferries also cancelled all morning sailings between the Mainland, Vancouver Island, the Sunshine Coast and southern Gulf Islands because of poor visibility and difficulty reaching ferry terminals, while police in Abbotsford, east of Vancouver, reported whiteout conditions along Highway 1 through the Fraser Valley.
The universities of B.C. and Victoria, as well as Simon Fraser University and the B.C. Institute of Technology all cancelled exams or classes scheduled for the morning and expected to update afternoon plans later in the day.
Elsewhere around B.C., the ongoing deep freeze produced several daily minimum temperature records Monday, including a low of -46.8 C west of Williams Lake, while the Quesnel area broke a record set 78 years ago when it reached a low of -37.5 C.
BC Hydro said in a statement that heating demands caused by the cold weather had resulted in a new record for peak hourly electricity demand on Monday night. The electricity supplier’s website showed more than 30 outages across the province, most of them clustered on the Lower Mainland and southern Vancouver Island.