An Environment Canada meteorologist is urging extreme caution if people have plans to travel on mountain highways this week.

Doug Lundquist says that is because the forecast is calling for as much as 25 cm of snow by Tuesday night, Nov. 9, on the Hope to Merritt Section of the Coquihalla.

It is also calling for about 10 cm between Kamloops and Merritt as well on the Okanagan Connector between Merritt and Kelowna.

“Every day in the winter, I get up and it makes me sad that people have been travelling and getting in accidents and people lose their lives and their property is damaged. Truly we can do something about that,” Lundquist said.

“We can decide not to travel or make sure we have our proper equipment on and that we slow down for the conditions or change our trips so that we are going when the weather is the best.”

Speaking on NL Newsday, Lundquist says there could even be snow in the valley bottom in Kamloops on Thursday night this week.

“It is the type of snow that will come and go. It will probably be white on the grass, and places like Sahali will get maybe 5 or 10 cm that day, but it will start to melt out,” he added.

“So I think, the week is going to be a problem as we go through this entire week. So really, just trying to keep up with it. The next 36 hours are perhaps the worst, maybe we’ll have a break on Wednesday.”

Environment Canada is forecasting a high if 9 C in Kamloops and 10 C tomorrow, with sunshine expected on Wednesday and Thursday with a high of 7 C and 3 C respectively, before it clouds over Thursday night. Friday’s high is expected to be 6 C before highs of 8 C and 7 C on Saturday and Sunday this weekend.

A snowfall warning was in place last night on the Coquihalla Highway between Hope and Merritt.

Environment Canada said about 15 cm was expected to fall at the Coquihalla Summit Sunday night before snow tapered off this morning. Another 2 cm was expected between Merritt and Kamloops, with a number of drivers reporting icy conditions and several accidents near the Inks Lake brake check.

As of publishing, there are no snowfall warnings in place, though Lundquist says Environment Canada will issue watches or warnings, as required.

For the latest of the road conditions, check Drive BC here.