Calgary hit by unexpected blast of spring snow, causing dozens of crashes

“Due to winter road conditions, police are advising motorists not to travel.”

That was the message issued by Calgary police on Wednesday morning as an unexpected blast of heavy snow blanketed the city during the height of the morning rush hour, with many areas in the north part of the city reporting whiteout conditions as well as along Highway 1 around Airdrie.

Police and emergency crews responded to dozens of accidents, with many motorists seemingly caught off guard by the spring snowfall.

While Banff and other areas in the mountains were forecast to get up to 30 cm of snow, Calgary was originally forecast to not get much accumulation.

Around 7 a.m., however, heavy snow was reported to be falling over a large part of the city north of Glenmore Trail, sending many vehicles into the ditch or crashing into each other and prompting Environment Canada to issue a snowfall advisory for Calgary.

Many trucks, buses and larger vehicles were also having problems navigating steep hills.

“As this snow falls, the traffic situation does appear to be falling apart a little bit,” said Global Calgary traffic and weather specialists, Leslie Horton.

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“At first we were thinking it wouldn’t stay on those roads, but they’ve just not been warm enough, so we’re starting to see it accumulate on the roads.”

Paramedics also responded to dozens of accidents, but said the injuries they were treating were minor and non-life threatening.

“Our crews are responding to major routes,” said  City of Calgary spokesperson, Chris McGeachy. “We do anticipate we can snow events later into March sometimes in April knock on wood. Our crews are out there plowing through lanes and applying material.

“Our message to Calgarians really is just about making sure that you’re keeping those winter driving habits in mind.”

Jabier Abusdos, who is spending her first winter in Calgary, described the sudden change in the weather as “crazy.”

“The couple of past days was so nice. After my shift I went to the food court and I saw outside it was snowing so hard.  I was like what is going on?  It’s the same day, you know — like, oh my God I’m so tired already because like I can’t deal with this anymore.”

“People keep telling me March is going to be so nice, but it’s annoying,” added Abusdos. “I’m still waiting for the nice weather. Yeah, it’s crazy.”

While the snow was piling up in the north part of the city, the weather was dramatically different in the south part of Calgary where many neighbourhoods had no snow or just some light flurries with mostly dry or wet conditions on the roads, but no snow accumulation.

By the time the storm system moved out Wednesday afternoon, Environment Canada meteorologist Terri Lang said about 16 cm of snow had fallen at the Calgary airport.

She says another storm system is forecast to move into the Calgary area overnight, but only five to eight centimetres of snow are expected to fall by the time it ends Thursday morning.

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