The first big dump of snow of the season is snarling traffic on streets and highways in central and southern Alberta.
And tire shops are backed up as people rush to swap the rubber on their cars and trucks.
Monday morning, Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) issued a snowfall warning, saying 10 to 15 centimetres of the white stuff was expected to fall in a stretch of central and southern Alberta that reaches from the Rocky Mountains to Saskatchewan, from just south of Edmonton to Claresholm and Medicine Hat.
Both Calgary and Red Deer are in the middle of that warning area.
“Snow will end tonight over central regions tonight and on Tuesday for southern regions,” ECCC wrote on Monday morning.
Within Calgary city limits, police said there were more than 100 crashes on city streets. As of 4 p.m., 11 crashes resulted in injuries, 30 were hit-and-runs, and 64 were non-injury collisions.
The traffic division of the Calgary Police Service said they’re not seeing a “sudden spike” in collisions throughout Monday.
“Our officers are noticing that people are slowing down – they’re anticipating those slick conditions,” Staff Sgt. Rob Patterson said.
City of Calgary crews were out spreading anti-icing material, as the temperatures were expected to stay warm enough for the application.
“Right now, our crews are focused primarily on Calgary’s busiest routes. So those are your roads like Crowchild Trail and Glenmore Trail,” Chris McGeachy said. “The name of the game right now is monitoring the roads, applying anti-icing agents as necessary to trouble spots like bridges, hills, intersections.”
Last week, the city said it would pay extra attention to allowing greater accessibility and mobility of all types in this year’s snow plan.
Early Monday evening, Airdrie RCMP said they were on the scene of a number of collisions in both directions of the QEII between Calgary and Airdrie. With those creating major delays, RCMP are advising motorosts to avoid the area.
RCMP said stretches of the QEII Highway between Red Deer and Calgary had poor driving conditions on Monday, with more than 18 collisions experienced that morning.
One collision involved a school bus that contained students on Highway 2A north of Didsbury that sent six to hospital.
Authorities advised drivers to drive to the conditions of the road or to avoid driving because of the inclement weather.
Having appropriate tires on your vehicle helps keep you safe as well as everyone else on the road, according to Bret Morley, a Calgary Kal Tire manager.
“Having the right tires on or at least the mountain peak-snowflake (icon on) tires is going to make sure that the roads are safe, not only for the person driving that vehicle, but the others on the road as well. So we think it’s vitally important,” Morley said.
Morley said with the wintry weather coming into Calgary, wait times for tire swaps have climbed.
“We have our normal customers that are proactive and we try to encourage more to do so as well so that way when the snow does fly, we can support that demand, and not have as much of a push,” he said. “But obviously we expand capacity through all of our locations and we know what’s coming.”
The city advised anyone walking or wheeling to plan ahead, know the route, dress appropriately and to prepare for the possibility of unexpected delays.
There are a number of steps police suggest for drivers before heading out on the road:
- Make sure the vehicle is completely cleared of snow
- Make sure the vehicle is in good repair and with appropriate tires
- Drive slowly and with gentle adjustments to directions or speed
- Allow for extra travel time
“The biggest thing we can always say is just be patient with other people. Everyone’s in the same situation and everyone’s going to be slowed down,” Patterson said. “Take that extra time and be patient, be kind to other people while you’re out there on the road and we’ll all get there together.”
More to come…