No missed commutes yet this year, even with last week's mild dump of snow. And this is on a fixie with 23mm tires. But then I've been riding in Vancouver for the last 40+ years, commuting by bike for just about all of them, and I've seen much worse. The few times you decide to leave the bike at home and take transit, you'll often find that transit is not operating, either!
I set off in the morning, usually around 6:30, from about 1/3 of the way up Burnaby Mtn, and head downtown. They never clean the MUPs in Burnaby, but they're rideable on the first day of snow because it's always soft and easy to maneuver in. You just have to watch it on days 2 and 3 (by day 4 it's usually gone as the temps warm up and it starts raining), especially if it warms up and refreezes. The snow will turn to ice, or it gets packed down into ice by cars driving over it. The icy clumps will throw out your steering. Quite often you'll be riding over a thin layer of snow, and your front wheel will get deflected, and you'll be slipping the front wheel a bit. The bike is still controllable as long as the front wheel slide doesn't last too long.
Riding in snow will make you one heck of a bike handler!
The main roads are usually well maintained, and the closer you get to downtown, the better the roads become. I have noticed that on certain routes, like the Central Valley Greenway (CVG) and the Adanac, they have actually started running a small snowplow close to downtown! Be careful on the plowed parts, though; they do become slippery/icy. One of my crashes was on a plowed section.
The only thing easterners (and those from the prairies) need to realize is that West Coast snow is wet, so it tends to be quite slippery, so you do have to watch your speed. Sometimes you'll find yourself sliding down hills with the rear wheel totally locked up and the bike accelerating! Don't be afraid to walk your bike up or down the tricky sections. I often have to walk the fixie up the steeper climbs. And if you do crash in the snow, make sure all the loose parts (pump, seat bag) are recovered. I once lost a nice frame pump because I hand't noticed that it had fallen off and got buried in the snowbank!
Luis