Article content
Strong winds and blowing snow produced dangerous driving conditions across Calgary and on highways outside the city Wednesday morning.
RCMP said roads and highways around southern Alberta were covered with ice or snow while recommending people avoid travel if possible.
Article content
At Airdrie, northbound Highway 2 is reduced to one lane at 40th Avenue, following an earlier closure, as emergency crews attend to multiple collisions. The highway remains open north of Airdrie although travel is not recommended.
Article content
Poor driving conditions are also reported farther north between Innisfail and Bowden, with multiple vehicles reported off the highway.
The City of Calgary’s traffic site listed at least seven crashes as of 8 a.m., mostly on Stoney Trail.
Wind gusts of 60 km/h are behind the slick morning conditions.
Environment Canada’s latest forecast indicates conditions should improve for the afternoon commute with light snow expected to end near noon and wind gusts diminishing to 40 km/h. Temperatures will remain cool, however, with an unseasonable high of just 2 C expected.
Brian Proctor, meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, said a low pressure system pushing across the prairies into Manitoba has brought the significant winds.
“Right now, the airport is gusting 57 km/hr., and we see many gusts up in the 60 km/hr. range across much of southern Alberta,” he said. “We’re seeing some banding and flurry activity, too.”
Proctor said Calgary will see snow and flurry activity drop during Wednesday, followed by partly cloudy skies overnight.
“Temperatures are going to hold right around the freezing point, or just above the freezing point for daytime highs,” he said. “And we don’t really see those temperatures start to moderate until we get towards the end of the weekend.
More welcoming temperatures are forecast to return Sunday, with highs of 12 C to 15 C into Tuesday, Proctor said.
“It does look like it’s trending warmer and dryer — I wouldn’t expect us to see exceptionally high temperatures, but I think we’ll be above seasonal.”
Share this article in your social network
