VANCOUVER—Parts of Metro Vancouver were under nearly 40 centimetres of snow Tuesday afternoon — and there could be more on the way.

A series of storms this week buried the region in three times the usual amount of snow for the entire month of February in just three days.

More than 30 weather records were broken this week in regions across British Columbia due to low temperatures and large amounts of snowfall, said Carmen Hartt, a meteorologist for Environment Canada. It’s a pattern that will likely continue for the rest of February, she said.

“We’re expecting a cold month, so any precipitation that comes this way, there is a chance there will be even more snow,” said Hartt.

The snow is expected to taper off Tuesday night, but Metro Vancouver could see the white fluff falling again as early as Thursday, according to Hartt. In the meantime, a sunny yet cold forecast for Wednesday means residents should be careful about ice forming on roads and sidewalks, she said.

The snowiest February on record in Vancouver was in 1949, when the city saw 60.7 centimetres in one month.

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And while this week’s storm did not reach army-mobilization levels — the military was called in December 1996 after 41 centimetres fell on Vancouver in one day — most Vancouverites didn’t have to be told to stay home Tuesday. After major backlogs at critical SkyTrain stations caused long delays Monday as residents jockeyed to board the trains, SkyTrain stations and bus stops saw smaller crowds than usual on Tuesday morning.

Resident Jo Dworschak said the snow interfered with the heating system at her office near Broadway and Commercial St. and that the temperature dropped to 10 C inside. Dworschak, who works in non-profit housing, was told to stay home Tuesday.

It gave her extra time to prepare for her other job, as a game-show host for Story Story Line, which is scheduled for Wednesday night. But ticket sales have dropped because of the snow, she said.

“(The snow) is hard on small businesses. We’re hoping the show is not compromised, but yesterday and today, people weren’t really buying tickets.”

Yet some residents did not let the snow interrupt their daily routines.

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Larry Skopnik, who uses a wheelchair, has been a regular at the Commercial Dr. JJ Bean coffee shop for 20 years. Rather than stay home, he headed to his regular haunt on Tuesday morning to shovel.

“I’m just helping out my favourite coffee shop,” Skopnik said. “I don’t mind helping out; I don’t get to shovel snow very often. I was raised on a farm up north, so I’m used to shovelling snow.

“So when it snows hard it’s nice to get in there and get dirty and get shovel-y.”

Vancouver bylaws require property owners to clear snow from their sidewalks by 10 a.m. each morning. Erin Hoess, manager of street operations with the City of Vancouver, said the enforcement group was out ticketing violators on Tuesday. Usually the first step is to educate property owners who haven’t cleared the snow, although they can and will hand out tickets for between $250 and $2,000.

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Over the last three days, requests for the city’s volunteer shovelling service, the Snow Angels, have skyrocketed. They’ve had 177 requests from people who are unable to clear snow, including 63 on Tuesday morning. Fifty volunteers do the work throughout the city.

Vancouver’s fleet of nearly a hundred pieces of equipment were deployed this week to deal with the snow, clearing everything from major roads to bike lanes to the city’s iconic seawall.

Crews will be on high alert Tuesday night. If little to no snow falls, staff will brine the roads in order to prevent ice from forming. If the snow continues, snow plow teams are ready to spring into action once again, said Hoess.

She said this winter has so far been mild compared to other years and highlighted the winter of 2016-17, when the city was uncharacteristically covered in ice and snow for much of the time, resulting in many residents running out of salt.

But any amount of snow can be dangerous for the city’s most vulnerable populations. The Homelessness Association of British Columbia’s extreme weather response program has been in effect since last Thursday, providing additional shelter spaces and warming centres.

At Vancouver’s Oppenheimer Park in the Downtown Eastside, nearly 40 tents were pitched in the snow on Tuesday, and you could hear the sound of generators in the air. The mood was light, with residents laughing about how the tents looked like mounds in the snow.

Resident Sandy Wood said he dropped into a Vancouver warming centre for some free coffee on Tuesday.

“For me, the best part of the snow is the silence,” said Wood, who turned 60 last week. “You can just hear how quiet it makes it, and it’s usually so noisy down here.”

Classes were cancelled and commuter centres were unusually quiet after the third day of snow in Vancouver.

Schools in Vancouver, North Vancouver, Burnaby, Coquitlam, Delta, West Vancouver, Port Coquitlam, Port Moody, New Westminster, Richmond, Surrey and Abbotsford were closed, and classes were cancelled at all British Columbia Institute of Technology campuses, Simon Fraser University and the University of British Columbia.

Environment Canada warned the city of Vancouver, the North Shore, Burnaby, New Westminster, Maple Ridge and Coquitlam will get 15 to 25 centimetres of snow before the storm is over.

Up to 15 centimetres are expected in Richmond, Delta, Surrey and Langley.

While Vancouver braces for more snow, weather alerts are also in effect across the country, including in Halifax and Toronto.

Meanwhile, most of the Prairies are in the same deep freeze they’ve endured for a couple of weeks. While not in the path of the storm that’s hit Vancouver, extreme cold warnings are in effect in Alberta, where temperatures have registered -45 C with the wind chill in several parts of the province.

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