A trend of warmer temperatures that started Sunday brings with it its share of dangers for motorists and backcountry adventurers.

On Sunday the temperature rose from -21 C at 1 p.m. to -4 C at 11 p.m. It remained near or at that temperature on Monday, hitting 0 degrees in the early afternoon.  

“With the highly fluctuating temperatures right now its really important that people take their time when driving and be really cognizant of the changing road conditions hour to hour,” said Cpl. Jodi Shelkie, media spokesperson for the Fort St. John RCMP.

The combination of heating and freezing currently taking place on and around the region’s roads are causing hazards.

Yesterday morning, Highway 29 was closed in both directions between Fort St. John and Hudson’s Hope yesterday as crews conducted an avalanche risk assessment following a snow slide.

The snow slide occurred overnight about 12.5 to 14.8 km north of Hudson’s Hope near the Farrell Creek Bridge and the area was deemed as a high avalanche hazard.

“Even when you’re driving with the best winter tires, the road may look the same but it’s going to have different traction with your tires,” Shelkie said.

By 8:30 a.m. Monday morning Drive BC had reopened both directions of the Highway.

Shelkie said that snowmobilers should be especially careful.

“With the avalanche conditions its especially important that people going into the backcountry on snow mobiles visit the avalanche centre website before they go, make sure they have the proper safety equipment, and ensure that they have a satellite GPS messenger and that they know how to use it,” Shelkie said.

By 8:30 a.m. Monday morning Drive BC had reopened both directions between Hudson’s Hope and Fort St. John and also issued a driver warning of compact snow and slippery sections on both directions of highway between Hudson’s Hope and Tumbler Ridge.

No detour was available to reroute traffic.