Cold temperatures, snow create holiday travel chaos in Western Canada

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Hudson O’Connor is an extremely well-behaved baby.

His mother Taryn Caley confirmed this when explaining how the six-month-old barely screamed during the dozen hours they spent sitting on the tarmac at Vancouver International Airport on Monday night and slept most of the day Tuesday in the terminal – all that after a 13-hour flight from their home in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Around 7 p.m. Monday, the doors closed on their plane bound for Toronto, where Ms. Caley and her fiancé Paul O’Connor plan on taking their son for his first Christmas with his grandparents. But the plane never took off.

With delays piling up because of snow, extreme cold and arctic winds gripping Western Canada, she soon realized she would have to start rationing the formula she had packed for their trans-Pacific journey, which she stretched by thinning it with extra water.

Luckily, she said in a series of text messages from the airport Tuesday afternoon, Hudson was able to sleep well once the cabin lights were turned off and the adults on the WestJet flight were “actually quite calm (surprisingly),” as they were handed water, cookies and a choice of one of the snacks off the in-flight menu.

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“We were a bit stressed on the tarmac because we didn’t want to be those people with the screaming baby,” Ms. Caley said.

Once back in the terminal at 8 a.m. Tuesday, it became clear thousands of other travellers were in the same predicament: Their flights were cancelled and they had to line up for hours for news from their airlines of when they could expect to be back in the air, and whether there was free accommodation. Eventually, she said, WestJet told them they were not owed accommodation because the cancellation was because of weather and that they might not be able to rebook their flight before Christmas. (WestJet Airlines Ltd. did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday afternoon on its communication with passengers.)

Environment Canada warns of winter storm and multiday snowfall in parts of Ontario

After upward of 25 centimetres of snow fell in the region, Vancouver International Airport, or YVR, temporarily suspended all incoming and outgoing flights early Tuesday, holding departing aircraft at their gates and stranding passengers aboard some arriving flights for hours, as those planes had no place to go.

Airport spokesperson Megan Sutton could not say how many passengers were still in the terminal Tuesday afternoon after the “unprecedented number of cancelled flights,” but said in an e-mailed statement that staff were working to deliver food, water and other assistance to those stranded.

Meanwhile, her statement said, passengers scheduled to fly this week should check directly with their airline on the status of their flight. “We are asking people to please not to come to YVR if you do not absolutely need to,” the statement said.

Across the Rockies, Alberta’s international airports also delayed or cancelled numerous flights Tuesday. Temperatures dropping to minus 40 C, and lower with wind chill, meant it was also too cold for many ski hills to open. Much of southern Saskatchewan and parts of Manitoba were also facing bone-chilling temperatures, and a blizzard warning was in effect for Churchill, Man.

In Alberta, Environment and Climate Change Canada issued extreme cold warnings across the province, with some schools outside Calgary cancelling classes and children in and around Edmonton taking a snow day after the cancellation of bus service in several districts. Numerous community events across the province have also been called off, including the popular holiday lights attraction at the Calgary Zoo, to protect against the deep freeze.

Also Tuesday, BC Ferries cancelled all morning sailings between the Mainland, Vancouver Island, the Sunshine Coast and southern Gulf Islands because of poor visibility and difficulty reaching ferry terminals, while police in Abbotsford, east of Vancouver, reported whiteout conditions along Highway 1 through the Fraser Valley.

The University of British Columbia, University of Victoria, Simon Fraser University and the B.C. Institute of Technology all cancelled exams or classes scheduled for the morning and were expected to update afternoon plans later in the day.

Nicole Mucci, with the Union Gospel Mission in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, estimated the more than 3,600 people sleeping in the elements in and around Vancouver face great risks during this cold snap, ranging from hypothermia or frostbite to using candles or heaters inside their tents.

Natalie Hasell, a warning preparedness meteorologist with Environment Canada, said the bitter cold will linger this week but a marked change is expected by Christmas weekend, especially in Alberta. But she stressed that, until then, people should take precautions as the extreme cold puts everyone at risk.

“We’re talking about skin freezing in five to 10 minutes. And if you’re further north in the country where temperatures are probably even colder, you have even less time,” Ms. Hasell said. “You might think you are robust, resilient and not susceptible at all but the cold affects everyone. The more exposed skin you have, the more at risk you are at suffering what could be a very sudden, serious medical situation.”

On Tuesday afternoon, the government agency posted a weather summary for Alberta that said plummeting temperatures on Monday evening and Tuesday morning broke numerous daily minimum records. This type of weather increases the risk of frostbite and hypothermia, and the dangers are greater for young children, older adults, people with pre-existing medical conditions and the unhoused population.

Ms. Hasell said symptoms to watch for include shortness of breath, chest pain, muscle weakness, numbness and colour changes in fingers and toes. People are urged to stay inside.

Environment Canada forecasts another five to 10 centimetres of snow to fall on B.C.’s South Coast before conditions were expected to ease.

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With their flight to Toronto cancelled for the foreseeable future, Ms. Caley and her family failed to secure a multinight stay at a hotel room near Vancouver’s airport amid the scramble of passengers hunting for the same rooms. That’s when her father Frank Teskey, a retired art director at The Globe and Mail, started reaching out to friends and found one willing to drive from their home in Langley and pick up and house the exhausted family, arriving with baby formula late Tuesday afternoon.

“Feeling relieved that we have family and friends in Canada that are able to help us out because there was no help from the airline,” Ms. Caley said.

With a report from The Canadian Press