We dodged a significant overnight snowfall early Thursday in Edmonton, as more than 15 centimetres blanketed the mountain park regions, while the foothills and areas southeast of the city saw about 5-10 centimetres.
But by Thursday afternoon, a bout of wet snow started falling within city limits where temperatures hovered around 1°C. The result has been a slushy mess on city streets.
Global Edmonton’s chief meteorologist, Jesse Beyer, says even though we didn’t seeing big snowfall accumulations here, there’s a lot of moisture packed into the weather system.
“This is lower ratio snowfall compared to the dump we had last weekend,” Beyer said. “With surface temperatures near 0°C, these are the fat, wet chunky snowflakes that are holding more moisture than the light fluffy snow we typically see in cooler conditions.”
As temperatures cool this evening, the region should prepare for a period of very slippery road and sidewalk surfaces.
“With a lot of the initial snowfall melting on contact, we could get some icy conditions tonight and Friday morning,” Beyer said.
“That shouldn’t last long into the day with temperatures likely back near 5°C Friday afternoon.”
The City of Edmonton is reminding homeowners to be diligent with icy sidewalks next to their properties to help prevent slips and falls. Residents can pick up free sand from 150 community sand boxes around town, or at one of the five City Roadway Maintenance yards.
With similar weather patterns elsewhere across Alberta, area highways will also likely be slick into Friday.
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