Heavy snow hits Calgary, much of southern Alberta after freezing rain

Bundle up if you're heading out. 

Much of southern Alberta is under a heavy snowfall warning Thursday after a freezing rain warning issued by Environment and Climate Change Canada ended in Calgary and a few other communities.

The freezing rain started early and changed to heavy snow later in the morning. Roads have been slippery as snow covered the freezing rain that fell on top of ice.

"It seems as though we've got the first day of winter for around the 10th time this year," southern Alberta RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Curtis Peters said Thursday morning.

The most snow is due in the stretch from Rocky Mountain House to Milk River, including Lethbridge and Calgary. Between 10 and 20 centimetres of snow may fall before tapering off Friday morning.

More snow is predicted for this weekend.

The weather authority warns conditions will change and deteriorate quickly, visibility may be reduced due to heavy snow, and roads and sidewalks will be slippery as the freezing rain and snow turns to ice in sub-zero conditions.

Good day to stay home

The worst area Peters has heard about is Highway 2 south of Calgary. He's had multiple calls of collisions or cars in the ditch, but none with injuries so far, he said.

"If you don't have to be out right now, it's a good day to stay home and stay warm and stay off the roads," he said.

For about 25 minutes Thursday morning, collisions on slippery roads forced Calgary emergency services to issue a red alert, which means they had no ambulances available because they'd all been dispatched to help patients.

City of Calgary says it has plows on the roads and crews are applying anti-icing material to bridge decks, on and off ramps and other problem areas on Priority 1 routes.

Police said late Thursday afternoon there had been an unusually high number of collisions around the city due to the conditions that were impacting rush-hour commuters. 

No snow route parking bans have been applied yet, but the city warns that could change depending on how much snow falls.

"Our crews are human. They've been working really hard to get us cleared," said Chris McGeacy, spokesperson for the roads department. "Thankfully, today, because the temperature's closer to zero, the salt is going to have a great effect."

The unpleasant weather — less than a week before spring — is being caused by a low pressure system that has entered the region.

Another is set to arrive on Saturday and drop about five more centimetres on Calgary, says Environment Canada meteorologist John Paul Cragg.

"March can be a big snow month for the Prairies and that's thanks to cold arctic air battling it out for domination over the province with the warmer air that's starting to be produced down in the U.S.," he said. 

The snow will take a while to melt because temperatures will remain below zero for much of next week, Cragg said.

The full list of communities under snowfall warning include:

• Airdrie
• Banff National Park
• Brooks
• Canmore
• Cardston
• Caroline
• City of Calgary
• Claresholm
• ​Cochrane
• Crowsnest Pass
• Drumheller
• Forestry Trunk Road Highway 734
• Fort Macleod
• High River
• Innisfail
• Kananaskis
• Lethbridge
• Magrath
• Milk River
• Nordegg
• Okotoks
• Olds
• Pincher Creek
• Ponoka
• Red Deer
• Rocky Mountain House
• Stettler
• Strathmore
• Sundre
• Taber
• Three Hills
• Vulcan
• Waterton Lakes National Park

The heavy snow comes after a sunny, spring-like Wednesday with temperatures rising to 3 C in Calgary.

That made it worse for many out walking Thursday, like Antonia Escobar.

"I just wish this would end," she said. "We already had enough snow — we're done — but it's not as cold as it could be. It's just annoying now."

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