We're we just talking about something like this?

(This is a "copy/paste" ... so please excuse the caps)

"ISSUED BY ENVIRONMENT CANADA AT 3.22 pm PDT Thursday 13 April 2006.

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT ISSUED FOR..HEAVY SNOWFALL FOR THE INTERIOR MOUNTAIN PASSES.

A MOIST PACIFIC FRONTAL SYSTEM WILL BRING HEAVY SNOWFALLS TO THE INTERIOR MOUNTAIN PASSES TONIGHT AND FRIDAY. THE SNOW LEVEL WILL LOWER THIS EVENING TO NEAR 1000 METRES EXCEPT NEAR 1200 FOR KOOTENAY PASS.

TOTAL SNOWFALL ACCUMULATIONS OF 25 TO 40 CM ARE FORECAST FOR COQUIHALLA SUMMIT, ALLISON PASS, ROGERS PASS AND KOOTENAY PASS. MUCH LESSER AMOUNTS OF 4 TO 8 CM ARE EXPECTED FOR THE CONNECTOR, COQUIHALLA HIGHWAY BETWEEN MERRIT AND KAMLOOPS AND PINE PASS IN THE NORTH. UNSEASONABLY COOL AND UNSTABLE CONDITIONS WILL PERSIST ON THE WEEKEND."


That's nearly a foot of snow coming down through the passes there.


Incidentally, if any of you were planning a cross-Canada tour in the near future, bookmark or in some way save these two websites:

http://www.theweathernetwork.com
http://www.theweathernetwork.com/wea...erts/index.htm

and

http://weather.ec.gc.ca/canada_e.html
http://weather.ec.gc.ca/warnings/warnings_e.html

Because there are weather warnings issued somewhere in Canada pretty much every day all year round, it is not a bad idea to keep on top of them. The warnings could be for anything from torrential rain storms, to 80-100 km/h winds, to heavy snowfall warnings, to tornados, to severe thunderstorms with golf-ball sized hail, or whatever.

I know it can be hard to get this information when you're cycling, but if you can find a computer to use every few days (tourist information booths have them, libraries have them, and many towns have internet cafes) you can keep on top of things. Also weather information is often posted at Provincial and National Park gates.