It was chaos on the roads across much of southern Alberta Thursday morning as a spring snowstorm walloped the area with heavy snow and high winds, creating treacherous driving conditions and prompting a warning from RCMP for motorists to avoid travelling if possible.
Some schools cancelled classes, and many transit buses were either rerouted or snarled in traffic as they struggled to make it up hills in the Calgary area.
The heavy snow caused chaos during the Thursday morning commute, with many vehicles struggling to make it up hills in Calgary.
City of Calgary
“Snowmageddon” is how Global Calgary’s traffic specialist Leslie Horton described the mess.
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“North, south, east and west we’ve got poor highway conditions with slippery roads, snow falling, snow swirling (and) reduced visibility.”
A jackknifed semi truck in northeast Calgary, one of many vehicles that had trouble navigating the city’s snow streets Thursday morning.
Global News
South of Calgary, near High River, RCMP responded to reports of a pileup involving multiple vehicles that shut down southbound lanes of Highway 2 and prompted police to ask motorists to avoid the area.
The massive storm prompted the RCMP to warn drivers in much of southern Alberta against non-essential travel.
Source: X/@RCMPAlberta
On Wednesday, Environment Canada issued a “yellow” snowfall warning for the City of Calgary in anticipation of the storm’s arrival.
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But it was areas outside of Calgary that appeared to take the biggest hit from the storm.
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A large area east of the city was under an “orange” snowfall warning, with the national weather agency advising of drifting snow up to 70 centimetres deep in some areas along the Trans-Canada Highway near Gleichen, about an hour west of Calgary.
“Viewers in Bragg Creek (west of Calgary) have emailed us saying they’ve gotten more than 40 centimetres since the storm began,” said Global Calgary weather specialist Drew Stremick.
“Other storm chasers across Alberta have posted videos to social media showing snow drifts of around 100 centimetres deep. Early estimations from our forecasting models though showed Calgary could see nearly 30cm,” Stremick added.
The nasty storm prompted Environment Canada to issue an ‘orange’ snowfall warning for areas east of Calgary, where the national weather agency said there were reports of snowdrifts up to 70 centimetres deep in some areas along the Trans-Canada Highway.
Source: 511Alberta
“We’ve got to make like bears and hibernate,” Neil Swanson said as he worked to shovel the heavy snow from the sidewalk in front of his home in Calgary.
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“I’ve been fooled so many times by spring, you know. Oh, spring’s here,” Swanson joked. “I was wearing my sport coat just the other day. You know, it felt really good. And now — yeah, I’m not going to be fooled anymore.”
While it may be unwelcome to many people, the heavy snowfall is not unusual for Alberta at this time of year.
“March and April are typically when Calgary sees the highest snowfalls,” said Stremick. “On average March typically sees about 24 centimetres of snow, while April gets just over 22 centimetres. So this storm is potentially bringing more than a months worth of snow in one go.”
According to Environment and Climate Change Canada, the record for April 16 is 27.9 centimetres of snow in 1933.
The storm is expected to move out of the Calgary area late Thursday as it takes aim at Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
Any accumulated snow should also be short-lived.
The forecast for Friday in Calgary is 5 C with a mix of sun and cloud and the possibility of showers.
By Sunday, the temperature is forecast to return to a more seasonal 13 C and the forecast high for Tuesday is 23 C.
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