EDMONTON- The snowfall warning that was put in place by Environment Canada for the Edmonton region on Friday, was lifted Saturday morning.
However, light snow is expected to continue to fall throughout the region Saturday and into Sunday.
As a result, city roadway maintenance crews have been deployed to sand and plow city streets. The city says priority has been given to hills and bridges, particularly in the river valley, as well as freeways and major arterial and collector roads.
Edmontonians woke up to a blanket of snow Saturday morning, which caused troubles for motorists on a number of area highways.
Shortly before 8:00a.m. Saturday, Leduc RCMP advised of extreme winter travel conditions on Highway 2, south of Edmonton.
“Roads were relatively poor, numerous vehicles in the ditch, about 10 to 15 different collisions on the road, nothing serious in nature,” said Constable Matthew Pepper with Leduc RCMP.
Blowing snow caused extremely poor visibility for drivers, prompting a tow ban to be put in place. However, conditions improved Saturday afternoon and that tow ban was lifted.
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“Because the weather’s gotten a little warmer, the roads have gotten more wet than slick, so they’re pretty good at this time,” Pepper said Saturday afternoon.
Just after 4:30a.m. Whitecourt RCMP closed Highway 43 at the Chickadee rest stop due to a collision approximately 20 kilometres west of Whitecourt. The highway was reopened around 12:30p.m. Saturday, however RCMP still advised against travel on the highway.
Weather conditions in the Edmonton area improved late Saturday morning. However, a snowfall warning remained in place for much of western and southern Alberta.
A high of zero degrees celsius is expected for Saturday, with light snow to fall throughout the day. Similar conditions are expected for Sunday, with a slight improvement into next week.
By Thursday, Edmonton should reach a high of eight degrees celsius with mostly sunny skies, according to Global weather specialist Kevin O’Connell. However, that is below normal, as the average high for this time of year is 11 degrees celsius.
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