Highway 37 to Kitimat Closed after vehicle incident, as Winter Storm conditions arrive inland

Update: Highway 37 Reopened to traffic late Friday Afternoon

Highway 37 South between Terrace and Kitimat was closed earlier this morning, with radio station CFNR reporting that a fatal accident has taken place near the Suicide Hill area close to the Kitimat River Bridge, 25 kilometres North of Kitimat.

Drive BC posted notices related to the road closure to both their website and twitter feed to outline the nature of the road closure.

The advisories note that assessments of the incident are currently underway, the estimated time for reopening the highway has been listed as 5 PM, pending further updates.

No further details have been released to this point related to the vehicle incident and fatality of earlier today.

(Update: Kitimat RCMP issued this statement related to Friday's vehicle collision and fatality.

A look at some of the Highway cameras further inland provide a glimpse into the conditions at this time to be found for those travelling inland today.

Flagging personnel are turning back traffic near Onion Lake this
morning as Highway 37 remains closed owing to a vehicle incident
and reported fatality

As of just before the Noon hour, the road from Prince Rupert to Terrace looked as follows.

At Terrace

Around the Kasiks area

Along the Kwinitsa region

A look at the Rainbow Summit pull out area

The weather is also of note for air travel into and out of the Terrace-Kitimat airport this morning, earlier today, Air Canada issued a travel advisory for passengers travelling between Terrace and Vancouver.

So far however, it's a case of so far, so good, as The Terrace airport boards show flights still arriving and departing close to their scheduled times.

The forecast for the Terrace/Kitimat area and other parts of the North Coast inland region was upgraded to a Winter Storm Warning earlier today, with snowfall amounts expected to be in the range of 20 to 30 cm in the Terrace region expected before the weather system moves on.

For Prince Rupert the storm is a rain and wind event, with up to 35 mm of precipitation expected over the next 24 hours with another 30 on the way for the day to follow. Winds will range between 70 to 80 kilometres as well over the weekend.

Updates on the Forecast for the region can be found on the Environment Canada website