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Drivers warned of snow, winter driving conditions on Malahat

Drive B.C. warned motorists about snow and winter driving conditions on the Malahat Friday morning. By mid-morning, Drive B.C. said there were slushy sections between Langford and one kilometre north of the Malahat Summit.
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A pair of beachcombers checks out the beach of Mount Douglas Park on Thursday. Snow is no longer evident on the pebbly shore, but much of the park's 21 kilometres of trails are still snow-covered after last week’s dumps

Drive B.C. warned motorists about snow and winter driving conditions on the Malahat Friday morning. By mid-morning, Drive B.C. said there were slushy sections between Langford and one kilometre north of the Malahat Summit. Up to five centimetres of wet snow was expected to fall before noon at higher elevations, including the Malahat portion of the Trans-Canada Highway.

Similar conditions were forecast across the Island, with two cm of cold rain forecast for lower elevations with possible wet snow inland. Higher elevations such as Mount Washington could receive as much as 10 cm of rain mixed with snow, said Environment Canada meteorologist Carmen Hartt. The wet snow is not expected to accumulate but rather melt away or result in slush, Hartt said.

Below-average temperatures are expected to last to at least the end of the month. “It’s just stuck with us,” Hartt said. “It looks like it will continue through the end of February and into March. We’re going to run cold.”

The past month has seen daytime highs of 4 C and nighttime lows of -3 C — much lower than the average February temperatures for Vancouver Island, which range from 4 C to 9 C.

“If temperatures stay this way, it will be the second coldest February dating back to 1941 as recorded at the Victoria International Airport,” Hartt said.

Meanwhile, Avalanche Canada issued an avalanche warning Thursday for backcountry users on Vancouver Island and the mainland’s south coast, as snow conditions could increase the possibility of a slide on steeper terrain. The warning extends into the weekend.

A 42-year-old woman from Australia was killed Thursday in an avalanche while snowboarding in Whistler. A statement from the Whistler Blackcomb resort said she was taken to the Whistler Health Care Centre, where she was pronounced dead late Thursday afternoon.