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Snowfall warning ends for Calgary, remains in place for Brooks, Strathmore, Vulcan

A snowfall warning was issued for Calgary and surrounding areas. Global News

A snowfall warning issued for Calgary came to an end on Thursday, though some area communities remain affected.

The national weather agency issued a snowfall warning for areas south and west of Calgary on Tuesday but expanded it on Wednesday morning to include Calgary as well.

Then, on Thursday, the warning for Calgary and several surrounding communities concluded.

It does, however, remain in place in Brooks, Strathmore and Vulcan.

“Light snow with pockets of intermittent heavy snow is forecast to continue in the Brooks region [Thursday] before tapering off late [Thursday] afternoon and early [Thursday] evening,” Environment Canada stated.
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Drivers are warned to prepare for winter driving conditions.

“Rapidly accumulating snow will make travel difficult,” Environment Canada added. “Visibility may be suddenly reduced at times in heavy snow.”

Snowfall warnings are issued when significant snowfall is expected.

City of Calgary crews continuing to clear snow-covered roads

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City of Calgary Roads spokesperson Chris McGeachy said Wednesday that all of their available snow-clearing equipment is in use.

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“Our crews are on their winter shift right now, so they’re working 24-7 and they’ve been working through the night,” McGeachy said.

“Right now we’re focused on our Priority 1 routes, those are your Crowchild Trail, Glenmore Trail roads that carry 20,000 vehicles a day,” McGeachy said.

When the snowfall ends, the city will activate its seven-day snow clearing plan, and crews will begin working down the priority list.

Once Priority 1 roads are cleared, crews focus on Priority 2 routes — roads that carry 5,000 to 19,999 vehicles a day — like Kensington Road and Acadia Drive.

Crews then turn to clearing Priority 3 and four routes, which include residential areas and school and playground zones.

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The City of Calgary has a snow removal budget of just under $40 million between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, and McGeachy said they’re still within that budget.

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The City of Calgary is not anticipating a snow-route parking ban will be put in place to help crews clear streets.

The parking bans are put in effect on the city’s snow routes when Calgary has seen a significant accumulation of snow.

Learn more about snow-route parking bans

A snow route parking ban will go into effect on Saturday at 10 a.m.
 A snow route parking ban will go into effect on Saturday at 10 a.m. Tim Lee / Global News

Snow routes are indicated by blue signs with a white snowflake symbol. Any vehicles left on snow routes during the ban can be ticketed or towed.

Once called, snow-route parking bans can be in place for up to 72 hours. On-street accessible parking is exempt from snow-route parking bans.

To find more information regarding snow-route parking bans, visit Calgary.ca/snow.

How to sign up for snow-route parking ban notifications

Although the most recent snowfall isn’t enough that the City of Calgary anticipates it will call a snow-route parking ban, drivers may still want to sign up to receive alerts so they know if one is put in place.

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The City of Calgary announced in mid-October that its snow-route parking ban notifications would be moved to the existing myID system, which is already used for street sweeping notifications.

If you sign up, you can choose to receive text or email notifications about when a snow-route parking ban will be in effect and when it has been lifted.

Want your weather on the go? Download Global News’ Skytracker weather app for iPhone, iPad and Android.

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