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Pennask Summit Weather & Road Conditions
Radar and live pavement conditions at the summit of Pennask Summit and on both climbs — plus the six-day summit forecast and the winter tire rule on Highway 97C (Okanagan Connector).
Elevation 1,728 m · Updated Nov 5, 2026 2:08 AM MST · Mostly slush, ice in places
Lowest 1°C near Peachland, British Columbia · Highest wind 13 km/h near Peachland, British Columbia
At the summit: Snow · 1°C · road surface est. -1°C · 9 km/h wind · gusting 20 km/h
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Pennask Summit, 1,728 m, is the highest point on Highway 97C, the Okanagan Connector between Merritt and Peachland, and the highest point on the whole Coquihalla system. It is open plateau rather than a mountain pass: the hazard is wind and blowing snow across a road with nothing to stop either, and the summit stays under snow long after the valleys either side are bare.
- Elevation: 1,728 m (5,669 ft)
- Carries: Highway 97C (Okanagan Connector)
- Province: British Columbia
- Winter tire route: Yes, October 1 – April 30
Weather data from Nov 5, 2026 2:08 AM MST
1°C
2°C
13 km/h
101.6-101.9 kPa
1 current report along the route. Always check with DriveBC before setting off.
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Lanes blocked
Road work on Highway 97C
Geotechnical investigation from Highway 97C, At Brenda Mine Road. Starting Tue Nov 3 until Fri Nov 6. From 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM MST, Tuesday to Friday. Shoulder closed. Right lane closed. Last update: October 15th, 2026 at 12:07pm PDT. Groundwater monitoring.
Pennask Summit Winter Tire & Chain-Up Requirements
Pennask 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 snow, with the road surface estimated at -1°C. The road surface figure is an estimate derived from air temperature, not a measurement — bridges and overpasses run colder than the number shown.
Pennask Summit Weather Forecast: Next 6 Days
At the summit, 1,728 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.
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Rest of today Nov 5
5°C -2°C
Ice worst around 5 AM
Wind to 20 km/h
-
Fri Nov 6
1°C -2°C
Ice worst around 12 AM
Wind to 18 km/h
-
Sat Nov 7
4°C -1°C
Ice worst around 12 AM
Wind to 18 km/h
-
Sun Nov 8
4°C -4°C
Ice worst around 2 AM
Wind to 30 km/h
3.0 mm precipitation -
Mon Nov 9
3°C -4°C
Dry
Wind to 11 km/h
-
Tue Nov 10
3°C -4°C
Ice worst around 1 AM
Wind to 14 km/h
Forecast, not a measurement — from the same weather service that draws this page's radar and road colors, model run 9 hours ago. Days run on Mountain time, the clock the pass keeps — not the reader's.
The climb to Pennask 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.
| Approach | Starts at | Elevation | Climb to the summit | Over |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| From Merritt, eastbound | Aspen Grove | 1,071 m | +657 m | 50.5 km |
Why Pennask Summit closes
Exposure. The Connector is a four-lane freeway across an open plateau that stays above 1,500 m for most of the way between Aspen Grove and the summit, and there is nothing to stop the wind: drifting and whiteout close lanes here when the Okanagan below is dry. The other reason is the Peachland side — the long, steep grades out of the valley, where the first wet snow of the season catches traffic on summer tires, as it did on 29 October 2025.
The dated closures, with the province's own releases for each, are on the Highway 97C page.
If Pennask Summit is closed
- Highway 5 to Kamloops, then Highway 1 and 97 through Vernon — about 1 h 55 min longer than the direct road when both are open, 254 km against 143 km for Pennask Summit, Merritt to Peachland. Round the north end by Kamloops and Vernon. All of it is lower than the Connector, which is the point; it is also two to three times the distance.
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 ↗.
Pennask Summit by the month
Thirty-year normals from the nearest Environment and Climate Change Canada station with a full record: Peachland, 26 km away and 1,383 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.
| Month | Snowfall (cm) | Days with snow | Mean low (°C) | Nights ≤ 0 °C | Snow on the ground (cm) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 24 | 6 | -2.4 | 20 | 6 |
| Feb | 10 | 3 | -1.6 | 17 | 3 |
| Mar | 5 | 1 | 1.1 | 11 | 0 |
| Apr | 0 | 0 | 4.5 | 2 | 0 |
| May | 0 | 0 | 8.7 | 0 | 0 |
| Jun | 0 | 0 | 12.6 | 0 | 0 |
| Jul | 0 | 0 | 15.6 | 0 | 0 |
| Aug | 0 | 0 | 15.3 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep | 0 | 0 | 10.6 | 0 | 0 |
| Oct | 0 | 0 | 5.6 | 2 | 0 |
| Nov | 13 | 3 | 1.1 | 10 | 1 |
| Dec | 31 | 8 | -2.5 | 22 | 4 |
Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada, Canadian Climate Normals 1981–2010, station PEACHLAND (1126070), 345 m, through the MSC GeoMet API.
Pennask Summit Road Weather FAQ
- Is Pennask Summit open right now?
- Yes, as far as the state's 511 feed shows — no full closures are reported on Pennask Summit as of Nov 5, 2026 2:46 AM MST. One lane closure, roadworks or restriction is in force. They are listed under closures and road blocks on this page.
- How high is Pennask Summit?
- The summit of Pennask Summit on Highway 97C (Okanagan Connector) is 1,728 m above sea level.
- What are Pennask Summit road conditions today?
- The map on this page colors the route along Pennask Summit by what is on the pavement right now — dry, wet, slush, snow or ice — from radar and surface data, last updated Nov 5, 2026 2:08 AM MST. Right now temperatures run from 1°C to 2°C and the strongest wind is 13 km/h.
- Do I need chains on Pennask Summit today?
- In a car, no. Pennask 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 snow, and the road surface is estimated at -1°C.
- What is the weather forecast for Pennask Summit this week?
- At the summit, Nov 5 to Nov 10: highs 1-5°C, lows -4--1°C. Snow or ice is forecast on the road today, Fri, Sat, Sun and Tue. It is a forecast rather than a measurement, and the later days are less certain than the earlier ones.
- How often are Pennask 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.
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