Freezing rain, ice fog and flurries make for slippery start to week
Posted Feb 29, 2016 7:53 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A reminder: it’s still winter.
Freezing rain and flurries overnight turned parts of the city into a skating rink Monday morning, a far cry from how Calgarians ended last week with patios and short sleeves.
It’s not just driving which is slippery — so is walking, thanks to a thin layer of ice covering roads and sidewalks.
Nate was driving outside High River and says people were still going pretty fast despite how slick it was.
“There’s a good layer of hard, thick ice on the ground,” he said. “I haven’t seen any snowplows out but there is evidence at some of the exits and entrances at the highway that they have been out because you can hear the sand crunching under your tires.”
Calgary Roads Spokesperson Jessica Bell says the roads are holding a lot of heat from last week meaning most crews are using salt.
“That kind of helps to break down that ice build-up,” she said, adding they weren’t fooled by the warm weather last week.
“It’s still February so we still have crews on and our equipment all ready to go,” explained Bell.
City News Meteorologist Andrew Schultz says unfortunately the cold temperatures aren’t going to help melt anything so it will be up to those crews to get the roads clear.
Between 8 p.m. Sunday night and 6 a.m. Monday, Calgary Police reported 36 crashes, with five of them resulting in injuries.
