A snowfall warning was lifted for the city of Edmonton shortly before 4 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon, however, other parts of Alberta continued to be listed under a warning.
A stretch of Alberta, from B.C. to Saskatchewan, was expected to receive 10 to 15 centimetres of snow between Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning, prompting a snowfall warning by Environment Canada.
The warning stretched from Hinton to Grande Prairie in the west, across the province to the Cold Lake region in the east, and originally included the city of Edmonton and surrounding areas to the west, north and east.
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Environment Canada said a low pressure system developing over Alberta would spread a band of snow over north central parts of the province.
The snow was expected to begin Monday afternoon over northwestern portions of the province and track eastward through the Edmonton region overnight, before leaving the province on Tuesday afternoon, the weather agency said.
“Snowfall totals are expected to be in the 10 to 20 centimetre range by the time the system tracks into Saskatchewan on Tuesday,” the advisory stated.
READ MORE: 10-15 cm snow possible across central Saskatchewan
City of Edmonton road crews began preparing for the snow on Saturday by applying anti-icing solution on some city streets. The city’s director of infrastructure operations said crews aim to get out about 36 hours before the snow falls.
“It can last up to 10 days but you don’t want to put it on too early prior to a snow event,” Janet Tecklenborg said of the anti-icing agent.
“Prior to the event, we call it anti-icing. After the event, we call it deicing. Anti-icing so it doesn’t stick and then we deice to get the road back to bare pavement if there is a skiff of snow on it.”
Clearing the streets is no small task for road crews.
“It’s the same as if you drive from here all the way down to Tijuana, Mexico and back. It’s significant,” Tecklenborg said.
Tecklenborg said 120 plows are ready to hit the streets if needed. Contractors have also been alerted if grading is needed in Edmonton, although Tecklenborg said that doesn’t usually happen until 10 centimetres of snow has accumulated on the roads.
Environment Canada issues snowfall warnings when at least 10 centimetres of snow is expected to fall within 12 hours.
Rapidly accumulating snow could make travel difficult over some locations. Surfaces such as highways, roads, walkways and parking lots may become difficult to navigate due to accumulating snow. There may be a significant impact on rush hour traffic in urban areas.
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One of the best ways to track locally hazardous driving conditions is from local viewer reports. The #yegtraffic hashtag is often used by Twitter users reporting traffic issues within Edmonton.
If safe to do so, share your weather photos with us via the Global Edmonton Facebook and Twitter accounts. You can also post updates from your community using the hashtags#yegwx and #abstorm.
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