Heavy snow and wet conditions cause chaos on Calgary’s roads
Heavy snow blanketed Calgary on Monday morning after weeks of unusually warm and dry weather that sent many vehicles into ditches.
Global Calgary traffic reporter Leslie Horton said winter driving conditions returned. Traffic was slow – vehicles were sliding off the road and slipping up hills.”
Plan to spend some extra time in traffic, drive carefully, and wipe off your car to prevent snow blowing back onto behind you,” said Horton.
Approximately 200 non-injury crashes were reported Monday and 20 injuries.
Calgary drivers were warned about impending snow late Sunday night by Environment Canada.
Calgary, which is part of the snowfall warning area, is forecasted to receive about 10 to 15 cm of snowfall, but some areas may receive as much as 20 cm. Snow fell over Calgary Monday morning, most of it heavy and wet.
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A TROWAL is moving through, which is a trough of warm air aloft,” said Lizee. The precipitation will melt a little bit and then it will turn back into snow as it falls. The snowflakes have a lot of moisture in them. Slushy snow is making the city more slippery.”
Later in the week, there’s a chance of more snow, though it should taper off by Monday.
Temperatures will remain below freezing behind the system due to colder air sweeping down from the Arctic.
The snow will continue toward the middle of the week. “We might see another heavy snowfall Friday and into Saturday.”
The heavy and wet snow in Calgary has caused havoc on the roads and is hard to shovel, but Lizee says it will be lighter and fluffier in the mountains, making skids easier. Several other big weather systems in the North Pacific may bring more rain to Calgary.
Once those systems move through, we’re watching a really strong system move off of the Pacific and hit British Columbia next week. “So let’s see what that does and how it will affect Alberta.”
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