CALGARY – A stranger to Calgary might not believe it’s almost the middle of April – but for local residents, it’s little surprise, although a real pain in the butt.
The city and surrounding areas were dealt another big blast of winter overnight which created havoc across the city for the morning commute.
Bill McMurtry, a meteorologist with Environment Canada, said Thursday morning that between 10 and 20 centimetres of snow had fallen in southern Alberta overnight – with some parts of northwest Calgary receiving up to 25 cm.
The Alberta Motor Association reported poor driving conditions across Calgary and much of Southern Alberta.
Heavy, wet snow built-up across the city, particularly in residential areas.
Major streets were snow covered in the early morning hours; shoulders and intersections were covered in slush and ice and drifting snow, winds and icy sections were reported on most main streets.
Calgary Police responded to approximately 12 crashes between midnight and 5:30a.m. However, by 1:00p.m., that number jumped to 101 collisions, seven of which involved minor injuries.
Heavy snow is also causing delays for city crews collecting garbage and blue carts. It’s expected they will not complete their scheduled routes. Crews will attempt to catch up once conditions improve.
Calgary Transit users also experienced delays.
Wednesday evening, the city roads department told Global News some of their equipment had already been swapped over for spring clean-up so they spent much of Wednesday transitioning the trucks back to snow and ice control.
Snow began appearing in Calgary around 8:00p.m. Wednesday night. Crews headed began salting roadways just after the supper hour then began adding gravel as the snow intensified.
The city originally planned to begin spring clean-up on Monday but that may now be delayed.
An aircraft operated by Sunwest Aviation slipped off a taxiway while approaching a runway early Thursday morning at the Calgary International Airport.
Mike Gocal, chief operating officer with Sunwest, said the cargo flight was not carrying any passengers and there were no injuries to the two-person flight crew.
The accident, involving a Fairchild Metro 23, occurred at about 6 a.m. Gocal said officials were assessing how to get the plane back on the tarmac. He didn’t believe it was affecting other flights.
He said the morning cargo flight was scrubbed because of the weather.
Some flights to Edmonton, Vancouver, Saskatoon and Winnipeg were cancelled and others were delayed.
Wednesday afternoon, a snowfall warning was issued for many areas in the south, including Calgary, Airdrie, Canmore, Cochrane, High River, Medicine Hate Okotoks and Sundre.
While much of the snow melted by Thursday afternoon, weather reports indicate flurries mixed with rain will continue through the weekend and end on Tuesday.
According to data from Environment Canada, Calgary has received almost 50 cm of snow so far this month. This blows the average amount for April – 15.4 cm – out of the water.
Calgary’s highest ever daily snowfall was 45.7 cm of the white stuff in April 1932.
The most snow Calgary has ever seen in April was in 2008 when the city received a grand total
With files from Postmedia News
Have pictures of this morning’s winter wonderland? Then them to us at Calgary@globalnews.ca!
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