We may be nearly a week into spring already, but winter refuses to release its icy grip on Alberta.
Approximately 10 to 25 centimetres of snow is expected to fall in parts of western and central Alberta Thursday night, prompting Environment Canada to issue snowfall warnings.
Heavy snow will move into the Grande Cache region early Thursday evening and spread southeast towards Red Deer by Friday morning, the national weather agency said. The heavy snow will begin to taper off through the day Friday.
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The warnings are in the foothills and Prairies to the west and south of Edmonton but do not include the capital region.
The warnings issued Thursday morning were for the following regions:
- Whitecourt, Edson, Fox Creek, Swan Hills
- Hinton, Grande Cache
- Jasper National Park
- Nordegg, Forestry Trunk Road Highway 734
- Rocky Mountain House, Caroline
- Drayton Valley, Devon, Rimbey, Pigeon Lake
- Red Deer, Ponoka, Innisfail, Stettler
A special weather statement remained in effect for southern Alberta along the mountains and foothills. The statement included the following areas:
- Airdrie, Cochrane, Olds and Sundre
- Banff National Park
- Crowsnest Pass, Pincher Creek, Waterton Lakes Nat. Park
- Kananaskis, Canmore
READ MORE: More snow on the way, weather statement issued for parts of southern Alberta
Environment Canada said the snowfall warnings may be extended to southwestern Alberta as the timing and location of heaviest snowfall becomes clearer. Snow for those areas is expected to taper off Saturday morning.
READ MORE: Winter safety — Should you be shovelling the snow?
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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