UPDATE: Accidents have been cleared from the northbound lanes of the Coquihalla Highway and the route re-opened.
Winter storm advisories remain in effect until Wednesday morning.
ORIGINAL:
The Coquihalla Highway, inundated by a winter storm, has been shut down in the northbound lanes due to multiple accidents between Hope and Merritt.
Southbound lanes between Merritt and Hope remain open, for now.
Highway 5 at the summit has seen about 20 cm of snow in the last 24 hours with another 20-30 cm expected into Wednesday morning.
DriveBC is reporting multiple vehicle incidents for the closure.
It suggests using alternate routes to get from the coast into the B.C. Interior at this time.
At 5 p.m., DriveBC reported up to an hour wait between Box Canyon and Zopkios because of the treacherous conditions and the number of transports lining up to place chains on.
Rain turns to snow about 12 km northeast of Hope on Highway 5.
Snowfall near the Great Bear Snowshed is making visibility challenging, according to an advisory on DriveBC.
Snow turns to rain again about 15 km south of Merritt on the Coquihalla.
A winter storm warning has also been issued for Highway 3 from Hope to Princeton due to heavy snowfall.
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