Snow in Calgary paves way for long-awaited winter activities

While many are slipping and sliding on the commute, other Calgarians are taking to the outdoors to partake in some long-awaited winter fun.

“[We’re] finally getting some snow that we can do some track setting with our cross-country ski trails,” said Mark Murias, superintendent with Calgary Parks, who adds staff are hard at work getting outdoor facilities like tobogganing hills ready.

After the December weather struggles, he says conditions are looking great.

“We’re inspecting our toboggan hills and they’re looking good,” Murias told CityNews. “So finally we can get out and do a little bit more of those winter activities.”

The arrival of winter in the city is still being felt across Calgary, particularly on the roads. But, it seems there may be light at the end of the tunnel — at least, for now.

By noon Thursday, all Calgary transit detours will be lifted as buses will continue on with their regular routes.

The city says that by activating the snow routes early, no buses got stuck and transit kept moving at a steady pace.

It is thanking people for their patience, as they head to the slopes, the hills, and public ice rinks.

It is still winter though, and more cold, snow, and ice are likely in our future, according to meteorologist Thomas Anderson.

“We did have that arctic ridge push down last week and brought some cold temperatures to the entire province,” he explained. “We’re still in January, there’s still the possibility that type of weather could occur again before the winter’s up.”

An extreme cold warning remains in effect in northern Alberta, but it’s snaking its way south along the eastern part of the province.

Snowfall warnings across southern Alberta, including High River, Lethbridge, and Pincher Creek have been lifted by Environment Canada.

“It looks like Lethbridge got about 14 centimetres. We had some reports out of the Pincher Creek area of about 17 centimetres,” Anderson said.

Murias says the extra snow has been helping city crews build cross country ski tracks, toboganning hills, and even helped maintain some outdoor rinks.

“The problem we have is it went from being quite warm to really cold and we can’t make ice after about -22°C,” he said. “It’s kind of brittle and tough on the workers as well.”

On the bright side, Calgary has many fun winter activities across the city including tobogganing, outdoor skating, cross country skiing, snowshoeing, and more.

Popular winter parks include North Glenmore, Bowness Park, Confederation Park, Prairie Winds.

To keep up to date with winter conditions and city-wide activities, visit calgary.ca/parks