Coquihalla Summit Weather & Road Conditions

No full closures are reported on Coquihalla Summit as of Sep 20, 2026 5:03 AM PDT, and no lane closures or roadworks either. Always check with DriveBC before setting off.

Coquihalla Summit Winter Tire & Chain-Up Requirements

Coquihalla Summit is on a designated winter tire and chain route. Winter tires are required on it every year from October 1 to April 30, whatever the forecast on the day, and commercial vehicles carry chains and put them on at the chain-up signs. What is in force right now — a chain-up in effect, a closure — this page does not carry; DriveBC ↗ is the authority before you set off. The rule in full, with the fines and the exceptions, is on the British Columbia page.

What this page can tell you is the surface at the summit, from radar and surface analysis: currently dry, with the road surface estimated at 7°C. The road surface figure is an estimate derived from air temperature, not a measurement — bridges and overpasses run colder than the number shown.

Coquihalla Summit Weather Forecast: Next 6 Days

At the summit, 1,244 m. Each day shows its warmest and coldest hour, and the worst driving conditions forecast anywhere in it — not the average, because the hour that closes a pass is the one worth knowing about.

1. Rest of today Sep 20

   

   20°C 5°C

   Dry

   Wind to 10 km/h

2. Mon Sep 21

   

   15°C 5°C

   Wet

   Wind to 13 km/h

3. Tue Sep 22

   

   15°C 3°C

   Wet worst around 2 AM

   Wind to 11 km/h

4. Wed Sep 23

   

   13°C 3°C

   Wet worst around 9 PM

   Wind to 12 km/h

5. Thu Sep 24

   

   14°C 1°C

   Ice worst around 5 AM

   Wind to 9 km/h
   2.7 mm precipitation

6. Fri Sep 25

   

   5°C 1°C

   Ice worst around 10 PM

   Wind to 7 km/h
   5.7 mm precipitation

Forecast, not a measurement — from the same weather service that draws this page's radar and road colors, model run 6 hours ago. Days run on Pacific time, the clock the pass keeps — not the reader's.

The climb to Coquihalla Summit

Where each approach starts, how far below the summit, and how much road the climb takes. The starting points are DriveBC cameras, so the elevations are the province's own; the distances are measured along the highway's line. Snow at the summit and rain at the start is the normal state of this road for half the year, and the table says how far apart the two are.

Why Coquihalla Summit closes

Snow, and what trucks do in it. The Coquihalla climbs from near sea level at Hope to 1,244 m in under 50 km, and the steepest part — the 8% Snowshed Hill between the Great Bear Snowshed and the Zopkios Brake Check — is the last thing a loaded truck meets before the summit. Most closures are for vehicle incidents in snow rather than for the snow itself: the overnight closure of 22 to 23 December 2025 was for multiple crashes just north of the summit, and the March 2023 closure followed 70 cm in 48 hours.

The other kind of closure is the one that lasts. The atmospheric river of 14 November 2021 destroyed more than 20 sites and seven bridges between Hope and Merritt and shut the road to everyone for five weeks and to cars for nine; the permanent bridges were finished in October 2023.

The dated closures, with the province's own releases for each, are on the Highway 5 page.

If Coquihalla Summit is closed

• Highway 1 through the Fraser Canyon — about 1 h 30 min longer than the direct road when both are open, 279 km against 205 km for Hope to Kamloops. Two lanes up the Fraser and Thompson canyons through Lytton and Cache Creek. It carries the traffic when the Coquihalla is shut, so allow for the queue as well as the distance.
• Highway 3 over Allison Pass, then 5A from Princeton — about 1 h 45 min longer than the direct road when both are open, 225 km against 123 km for Hope to Merritt. Over Allison Pass and Sunday Summit to Princeton, then Highway 5A up the Nicola Valley. The same storm that closes the Coquihalla is usually on Allison Pass too, so check Highway 3 before committing.

Distances and times are measured over openrouteservice on a clear road, and a closure day is not one: the detour carries the closed road's traffic too. Whether the pass is open right now is on DriveBC ↗.

Coquihalla Summit by the month

Thirty-year normals from the nearest Environment and Climate Change Canada station with a full record: Hope Slide on Highway 3, 38 km away and 559 m below the summit. The pass runs colder than these figures — roughly 0.6 °C per 100 m — and turns more of the same precipitation into snow. Averages for 1981–2010; a normal month, not this month.

Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada, Canadian Climate Normals 1981–2010, station HOPE SLIDE (1113581), 685 m, through the MSC GeoMet API.

Related Roads

Coquihalla Summit Road Weather FAQ

Is Coquihalla Summit open right now?

No full closures are reported on Coquihalla Summit. No lane closures or roadworks are reported either.

What are Coquihalla Summit road conditions today?

The map on this page colors the route along Coquihalla Summit by what is on the pavement right now — dry, wet, slush, snow or ice — from radar and surface data, last updated Sep 20, 2026 5:03 AM PDT. Right now temperatures run from 8°C to 11°C and the strongest wind is 17 km/h.

Do I need chains on Coquihalla Summit today?

In a car, no. Coquihalla Summit is on a designated winter tire route: winter tires are required on it from October 1 to April 30, and chains are what commercial vehicles carry and put on at the chain-up signs. A chain-up in effect or a closure is posted on the signs and on DriveBC. What this page can tell you is that the surface at the summit is dry, and the road surface is estimated at 7°C.

What is the weather forecast for Coquihalla Summit this week?

At the summit, Sep 20 to Sep 25: highs 5-20°C, lows 1-5°C. Snow or ice is forecast on the road Thu and Fri. It is a forecast rather than a measurement, and the later days are less certain than the earlier ones.

How often are Coquihalla Summit road conditions updated?

The road surface and weather layers are rebuilt whenever this page is opened with data more than ten minutes old, and refreshed on a schedule in between, so nothing here is more than about two hours old even on a road nobody has looked at. Closures and road blocks are re-imported from DriveBC every fifteen minutes. Every section on this page carries the time its data was fetched.