A dump of November snow is covering roadways and forcing southern Albertans to break out the shovels on Wednesday.
According to Lethbridge city officials, crews were sanding and salting roads throughout the night in anticipation of the snowfall but the weather still created an icy morning commute for some drivers.
“The roads were so warm that snow melted and then it froze back (sometime) in the morning,” said Darwin Juell, transportation manager for the city of Lethbridge.
“We had guys continuously doing salting or sanding.”
Morning traffic came to a virtual standstill along Whoop-Up Drive before Lethbridge police tweeted access was open in both directions at 11 a.m.
As of Wednesday afternoon, AMA estimated wait times for service in Lethbridge at roughly two hours.
Highways outside the city have also been proving treacherous.
511 Alberta encouraged drivers to find alternate routes after Hwy 5 south of Lethbridge was closed between Hwy 508 and Twp Rd 70 for most of the day because of a collision. It has since reopened.
Drivers also reporting accidents along Highway 3, including a vehicle on its side west of Coalhurst, while Coaldale and District Emergency Services responded to a jackknifed semi east of the town.
The snowfall is also prompting the city to activate phase one snow routes.
Vehicles parked on streets marked with a blue snowflake sign will need to be moved before noon on Thursday.
According to Environment Canada, the snow is expecting to end overnight but Lethbridge could see more flakes falling soon.
“We also understand it’s going to be snowing on Sunday, with heavy snowfall on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, so we’re anticipating more problems with our conditions eroding and we’re ready for it,” Juell said.
Lethbridge residents might want to keep their shovels close at hand.
Comments