Freezing rain, ice-slicked roads and weekend-long weather warnings made for a rough welcome to road conditions in the first few days of the new year. It left vehicles skidding on glistening roads and frozen fingers scraping inch-thick ice off cars.
Environment Canada issued a warning to kick off the long weekend for many and on Thursday, Drive BC put out a travel advisory for Highway 97 in Prince George as well as a warning for slippery conditions on Highway 16 between Prince George, Vanderhoof and Fraser Lake.
On Saturday afternoon, a crash on the Hart Highway sent passengers to the hospital, but without serious injuries.
That trend continued through the weekend, as RCMP didnt report any serious injuries from accidents in the Prince George area, but near Hudson鈥檚 Hope, Thursday, a vehicle rollover left three men dead.
Although roads in the city had mostly cleared by Sunday, snow fell throughout the day and Staff Sgt. Mark Pelletier said by the afternoon Prince George RCMP had already responded to at least four accidents, above average.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e icy,鈥� said Pelletier of the conditions, adding no injuries had been reported and most were vehicles off the road or in the ditch.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not nice. If you don鈥檛 have to drive, don鈥檛 drive.鈥�
Pelletier said he thinks drivers forget that it鈥檚 hard-packed ice rather than pavement they鈥檙e driving on.
鈥淸People] just have to slow down, be more careful, give lots of room for the cars ahead of you.鈥�
The freezing rain also prompted the Prince George Airport warn it could impact departures, and on Sunday evening, more than half of flights arriving and leaving had more than 15 minute delays.
Several Central Mountain Air flights were more than 45 minutes late, while several WestJet flights headed to Prince George from 91原创 had similar delays.
By Sunday Environment Canada had lifted warnings for the Prince George region, with a forecast Monday of sun and cloud, small amounts of snow and a chilly high of minus 16.
The Cariboo, however, from Williams Lake to Quesnel carried a snowfall advisory for 10 to 15 centimetres.
Avalanche Canada extended its avalanche warning for the region through to Sunday.
The conditions closed the outdoor ice oval on Jan. 1 and 2 due to rough conditions even after flooding it each day, but it opened again Saturday.
On Friday, the city reported its plans to focus on priority one and two routes for the weekend, including snow clearing operations, salting, sanding and sidewalk clearing.
