Winter is having its way with Germany, and now it's setting its sights on lower British Columbia.
It may not match the disastrous impact of the Christmas mess of 2022, but YVR officials are warning that a major snowfall will disrupt travel in British Columbia over the next couple days.
Meanwhile, Germany has been hit hard by cold and ice, resulting in one-half of all flights being cancelled at FRA, a major hub for Air Canada and other airlines. Flight Aware reports 57% of all Lufthansa flights have been cancelled for 17JAN.
Closer to home, 49% of departing flights have been cancelled at BUF for 17JAN. New York City is expecting snow on 19JAN, followed by daytime highs around -6C on 20JAN.
Flight Aware reports more than 3,600 flights were cancelled in and out of U.S. airports on 16JAN. Nearly 2,200 had been cancelled for 17JAN as of 8:30 a.m. EST.
Back in B.C., The Weather Network is calling for close to 10 cm’s of snow from 3 a.m. local time on 17JAN to 2 p.m. on 18JAN. Ten centimeters isn’t much for most Canadian airports, but it’s a pretty good snowfall for YVR.
“While our teams are actively clearing snow and ice from runways and taxiways and operating our de-icing facilities, there will be fewer flights able to arrive and depart in response to winter weather conditions,” YVR officials said in a statement. “As a result, there will be some impacts to flight schedules at YVR.”
As of 8:30 a.m. EST, FlightAware.com was reporting 51 cancelled departures and 60 cancelled arrivals at Western Canada’s busiest airport, which is also a hub for flights from Canada to Asia and Australia/New Zealand.
YVR officials say they’ve made significant improvements in snow-clearing since the December, 2022 debacle, in which some 180,000 passengers were affected by disruptions over the Christmas season.
