Winter is coming: Calgary placed under a snow squall watch Friday

UPDATE: The snow squall watch for Calgary mentioned in this story has ended.

Environment Canada issued a snow squall watch for Calgary on Friday as a cold front moves south across southern Alberta.

“Snow squalls cause weather conditions to vary considerably,” the national weather agency said. “Changes from clear skies to heavy snow within just a few kilometres are common.”

Environment Canada said the incoming cold front is expected to produce brief periods of intense snowfall and reduced visibilities throughout the city.

“Snow squalls may develop late this morning and into this afternoon,” Environment Canada said Friday. “The risk for snow squalls will diminish early this evening as the front pushes into Montana.”

Snow squall watches are also in effect for Airdrie, Cochrane, Olds, Sundre, Brooks, Strathmore, Vulcan, Cardston, Fort Macleod and Magrath.

Meanwhile, Environment Canada issued snowfall and wind warnings for much of southern Alberta. To learn more about the public weather alerts currently in place, visit weather.gc.ca.

Calgary’s weekend weather includes snow and cooler temperatures

“We are in for a doozy of a day,” said Global Calgary weather anchor Jodi Hughes on Friday. “Calgary is expecting some light flurries in the morning, then some mixed precipitation followed by strong wind as an intense cold front moves through — and then we are expecting more snow on top of that.”

The forecast for Friday includes a high of 3 C with temperatures dropping to a low of -9 C in the evening.

Hughes said the snow will taper off overnight and we’ll see a mainly sunny Saturday with a high of – 4 C and a low of -12 C.

Then on Sunday Hughes expects another 1-2 cm of snow with a high of -4 C and a low of -10 C.

Calgary road crews preparing for snow-covered streets

Chris McGeachy with the City of Calgary’s roads department said crews are prepared to clear snow-covered streets over the weekend.

“As of the start of October, they have moved into their winter operations, which is 24/7 shifts, so we have crews to cover the weekend snowfall,” McGeachy said.

“Crews will be out there applying anti-icing agents to trouble spots such as bridge decks and hills. And then when the snow starts to fall, it’s go-time, and they’ll be focusing on plowing those high-volume roads.”

The city currently follows a seven-day snow clearing plan, which is enacted once the snow stops falling.

Priority 1 roads are the first to be cleared, which includes major roads with more than 20,000 vehicles per day, like Crowchild Trail and Macleod Trail. (Deerfoot Trail and Stoney Trail are maintained by the provincial government.)

Crews then focus on Priority 2 routes — roads that carry 5,000 to 19,999 vehicles a day — like Kensington Road and Acadia Drive.

After that, crews turn to clearing Priority 3 and Priority 4 routes, which include residential areas and school and playground zones.