B.C.

The Coquihalla Highway between Merritt and Hope was closed for about four hours on Friday for avalanche control.

The route has since been re-opened. Compact snow and slippery sections are reported throughout.

Motorists travelling from the Okanagan to the Lower Mainland are being advised to detour on Highway 1 through the Fraser Canyon or Hope-Princeton Highway.

Ministry of Transportation Area Roads Manager, Bob Alexandruk, says the area between Merritt and Hope is currently at 150 per cent of normal snow pack.

Alexandruk says the region has gone through a bad week of storms.

"We've had rain on snow events, we've had snow turning to rain and back to snow and that creates very unstable layers in the snow pack," says Alexandruk.

"The avalanche rating is gone from moderate to considerable."

If the rating hits extreme the highway would have to be closed.

Alexandruk says normally avalanche control wouldn't be done of a Friday, however, he says this is the only day in which a break in the cloud cover is forecast allowing the helicopters to fly over the area and drop explosives to release the snow.

He says the clouds are expected to return Saturday with another storm set to hit the Coquihalla Sunday.