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Heavy blanket of snow over the Southern Interior

The storm has passed and now it’s time for Okanagan and Shuswap residents to dig out.
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The storm has passed and now it’s time for Okanagan and Shuswap residents to dig out.

Drive BC has a travel advisory on most major highways, due to the ice and snow that accumulated overnight and some that is still falling.

There’s good news, from Environment Canada, however — all weather warnings have been lifted and it’s time to resume winter, as it’s regularly scheduled.

They also released a bit of a rundown of how much snow has fallen.

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Depending where you are in Kelowna, five to 15 centimetres fell. In Vernon there was 10 to 20 cm of snow, Penticton saw 15. There was 15 to 20 cm of snow in the Princeton area and Kamloops saw 10 to 20 cm fall.

The highway passes were a bit more intense, with the Coquihalla accumulating 25 cm, Pennask Summit had 42 cm, Helmer Lake had 41 cm, Walloper, 30 cm, Larson Hill had 41 cm, Paulson Summit had 33 cm, Kootenay Pass had 35 and Allison Pass had 44 cm.

“A moist Pacific frontal system will bring heavy snow to the southwestern Interior,” according to an Environment Canada alert issued Tuesday.

Meteorologists said the cause of the wintry weather was a deepening Pacific low-pressure system will track across northern Washington state.

“This system will combine plentiful moisture with cool northerly winds near the surface,” according to the Environment Canada report ahead of the storm.