The busy departure bay at YLW Friday morning. Winter conditions in the Okanagan Friday have caused delays for those hoping to fly in or out of Kelowna. Heavy snowfall continues in the region, causing visibility problems for pilots and preventing planes from landing or taking off. Phillip Elchitz, senior director of Airport Operations at YLW, says planes can’t land when visibility drops below 3/8 of a mile. Over the past four hours, he says visibility has dipped in and out of that threshold, and some planes are circling overhead, waiting for conditions to improve. “The intensity of the snow has reduced visibility below 3/8 of a mile, and when we get below 3/8 of a mile, aircraft can’t land,” Elchitz said. “These aircraft will circle until either visibility increases or they need to divert due to fuel levels. “When visibility improves, even if it is for short periods of time, the aircraft will land. There will be activity and when it goes down again, things will slow down again.” Some planes have already been forced back to where they came from. Elchitz says he expects visibility issues to be addressed throughout Friday. There are currently around 19 delayed arrivals and departures at YLW at the moment, with delays between one and five hours and some flights being canceled altogether. “We really encourage checking their flight status on the YLW website before they come to the airport,” Elchitz said. “We don’t want people coming to the airport if their flights aren’t going to arrive… If you have too many people coming to the airport at the same time, we start to deal with other issues like parking and traffic congestion. “ Airport crews continue to keep runways plowed and ready for aircraft when visibility improves.