Winter in Calgary is here to stay, at least for the next few days, with an especially snowy forecast.
The city woke up to more snow falling Thursday, and Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) says it should stop falling around noon.
Snow will likely return Friday and is expected to continue into Sunday, the weather agency adds.
“Between now and that Sunday morning period, anywhere between 10 to 20 centimetres of snow is not out of the question for the Calgary area,” explained Marianna Greenoff with ECCC.
This will pile on top of the 15 centimetres that fell in some areas of the city on Monday.
Reports from 511 Alberta show nearly all highways outside Calgary city limits are covered in snow and ice. The same can be said for roads inside the city, which are also completely blanketed in snow in some areas.
The Alberta Motor Association (AMA) has the wait for a tow at 12 hours as of 7 a.m. Thursday; that wait time could rise significantly as the day goes on and people try to get where they need to go.
Drivers are advised to prepare for rapidly changing road conditions. Apart from having a good set of winter or all-season tires, good winter driving practices include leaving space between you and other vehicles, pre-emptive breaking, and keeping your lights on to see and be seen by other drivers.
Greenoff says these practices will be especially important over the weekend for those planning to head outside the city.
“If you’re planning to be travelling anywhere especially over the weekend, that whole corridor from Edmonton to Calgary is going to be quite poor and even worse as you head east if you’re travelling into Saskatchewan,” she said.
660 NewsRadio will have the latest on road conditions, traffic, weather, and news every 10 minutes, together on the ones.