March 15, 1998 was a beautiful day with a high of 13C. With spring just a few days away, most people were hoping there would be more days like it to follow.
March 16 dawned with a temperature of 2C, but there was something ominous in the 5 a.m. issue of the forecast: a heavy snowfall warning for Calgary.
The computer forecast models were predicting 48 centimetres, but as it turned out some areas saw a lot more.
The precipitation started as freezing rain at about 8 a.m., but quickly changed to snow. It was apparent from how heavily it was falling that the city was in for a major storm.
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At the end of the day the airport had received 24 centimetres but the further west you went, the deeper the snow got. One caller into the Global Calgary newsroom said he had an 87-centimetre-deep snow drift in his Charleswood yard.
The northwest was hit the hardest. Getting in and out of hilly Charleswood was almost impossible unless you braved it on foot, and it was a struggle even to walk.
An additional 15 centimetres fell between midnight and 10 a.m. on St. Paddy’s Day, when the snow finally stopped.
It was a long, slow, white-knuckle drive for those that had to go to work, but many stayed home. Still, even with fewer cars on the road, the morning rush was a nightmare.
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The main thoroughfares were prioritized and cleared first, with residential streets having to wait. In many parts of the city, people had to leave their cars on cleared main roads and walk, sometimes several blocks, to their homes.
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When snowfall measurements were done at the airport on March 18, the on-the-ground total was 38 centimetres, setting a new record. The storm had also pushed the official snow total for March 1998 to 70.3 centimetres, which broke a monthly record.
It took several days for the snow to be cleared and with temperatures climbing above freezing in the days that followed, a major melt got underway, taking care of most of the rest of the snow just in time for the arrival of spring.
It was a St. Paddy’s Day that no one who experienced it will ever forget.
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