A snowfall warning for Calgary issued by Environment Canada on Tuesday has now ended.
“Rapidly accumulating snow could make travel difficult over some locations,” Environment Canada cautioned on Tuesday. “Visibility may be suddenly reduced at times in heavy snow.”
“Most areas will see a widespread five to 10 centimetres, with some localized areas seeing 10 to 15 centimetres by (Wednesday) morning.”
City crews were working to ready equipment and apply anti-icing agents to trouble spots before the snowfall began.
When the snow started, crews then moved to plowing and applying material to high-volume roads like Crowchild Trail and Glenmore Trail as a part of the city’s seven-day snow clearing plan.
Late Tuesday night, Calgary police said multiple crashes were caused by the slick driving conditions.
On Wednesday, Environment Canada issued an update saying the snowfall was expected to continue throughout the morning before tapering off, with another five centimetres along the Highway 1 corridor.
A snowfall warning was also issued for areas surrounding Calgary including Airdrie, Cochrane, Olds, Sundre, Brooks, Strathmore, Vulcan, Okotoks, High River, Claresholm, Kananaskis and Canmore.
By noon, all of the snowfall warnings throughout Alberta had been dropped.
Learn more about Calgary’s seven-day snow clearing plan
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.
The City of Calgary has a snow-removal budget of approximately $40 million between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31.
Learn more about snow-route parking bans
The City of Calgary can put a snow-route parking ban in place to help crews clear streets.
The parking bans are declared on the city’s snow routes when Calgary has seen a significant accumulation of snow. 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.
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