Calgarians were in for another slippery commute Thursday after a spring snowstorm plunged the city back into winter driving conditions.
Heavy snow is expected to continue to fall throughout the day, with total accumulations of 15 to 30 centimetres, according to Environment and Climate Change Canada.
“Poor visibility due to blowing snow is occurring in some areas and will continue until mid-morning,” the agency said in its yellow-level snowfall warning for the city.
Yellow-level snowfall warnings are also in effect for much of southwestern Alberta.
Calgary Transit has put all of its snow detour routes into effect and is asking riders to check if their route is affected while planning their trips.
“We are working hard to get you to your destination safely, so please be patient and give yourself extra travel time,” Calgary Transit said on its website.
Chris McGeachy, spokesperson for the city’s roads department, says crews will focus on plowing and putting down traction on major routes throughout the day.
“Those are routes that carry over 20,000 daily trips … like Crowchild Trail, Glenmore Trail, Memorial Drive. And then we’ll begin working down our priority list,” he told the CBC’s Calgary Eyeopener.
“The major routes are going to be a safe bet. But it is going to be slow going.”
With the forecast calling for temperatures into the double digits over the weekend, McGeachy said he doesn’t expect the recent snowfall will interfere with the start of this year’s street sweeping, which is set to get underway on Monday.
A big swath of the province to the east of Calgary to the Saskatchewan border is under an orange-level snowfall warning, with total amounts of 25 to 40 centimetres expected in that region.
“Strong northwest winds are causing poor visibility in blowing snow. The winds are also causing snow drifts in a number of places, including the Trans Canada Highway near Gleichen,” said Environment and Climate Change Canada.
One report received from Gleichen said snow drifts there were as high as 60 to 70 centimetres in some spots.
Highway 1 just east of Bassano was closed Thursday morning because of heavy smoke from a semi-trailer on fire in the eastbound lane, RCMP said. Traffic was being diverted at range roads 184 and 175.
