Jan Polivka was already relishing the early start to the cross-country ski season a couple of days ago.
“I have never seen that much snow at the end of October,” the operations manager of the Whitehorse Nordic Centre said on Monday.
“We had a couple seasons when we had some actually decent snow conditions — but nothing like this.”
Then on Wednesday, Polivka and the rest of the Whitehorse woke to find another thick blanket of white stuff had covered the city overnight. Out came the shovels, again, and any lingering back or muscle aches from the last driveway-clearing would have to wait a bit longer for rest and recovery.
October snow is definitely not unheard of in the Yukon, and Halloween costumes, whatever they may be, often involve snow boots. Still, the amount that’s fallen so far this month has been unusual.Â
Downtown Whitehorse on Wednesday. (Kanina Holmes/CBC)
“We’re still gathering the data at this moment, but I would be surprised if there weren’t any records broken,” said Ken Dosanjh, a meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada.
“Fifteen centimetres in Whitehorse, up to 20 in Carmacks — so definitely a notable event for sure, especially, you know, as we still haven’t even hit November.”
City resident Chris Irving counts himself among those who are “pro-snow.” He loves to snowmobile and ski and go ice-fishing in the mountains.
“I spent a lot of time away from the Yukon, so when I come back for the winter I fully embrace it,” he said.
“I remember as a kid trick-or-treating through knee-deep snow, and it hasn’t been like that for as long as I can remember. So this snow now is pretty wild.”
‘All available city resources’ clearing roads
The City of Whitehorse said in a statement on Wednesday morning that “all available city resources” were out sanding and plowing overnight and would continue through the day on Wednesday. It said transit users should expect delays on all routes.
Clearing a downtown sidewalk on Wednesday. (Kanina Holmes/CBC)
Bobbie Milnes, the territory’s director of transportation maintenance, said highway crews were also out, “working hard just to manage that accumulation.”
Speaking to CBC News just after noon on Wednesday, Milnes said there were no roads closed anywhere in the territory.
“I think we were prepared. We had trucks ready in all of our areas, and we did hit our goals in terms of season readiness,” he said.
“We work until the work is done. So the main focus is just keeping the roads clear and safe for the public.”
All but three of the 44 school buses in the city were on the road on Wednesday morning, according to Pierre Laurin of Standard Bus Contracting. The three cancelled buses simply “couldn’t make it out of their parking locations,” he said.
The snow had tapered off by Wednesday afternoon, and a snowfall warning had been lifted. (Paul Tukker/CBC)
“Many, if not all, were very delayed of course, but everybody that was on board arrived to the school safely, not injured,” Laurin said.
“We just had most of our fleet retrofitted with proper tires for this winter season. So we were on top of our game for that.”
The snowfall had tapered off in the city by Wednesday afternoon and Environment Canada’s snowfall warning, in place since Tuesday, had been lifted.
Dosanjh said on Wednesday afternoon that the snow was expected to taper off for most of the southern territory, and there wasn’t much more snow expected in the coming days.
“I’d say we’re past the brunt of it,” he said.
“I’m not seeing too many large-scale events, at least for the next week.”
