Calgary under snowfall warning with more ‘heavy snow’ expected overnight

Calgarians are set to flip the calendar to a new month tomorrow, and despite it nearly being May, the city is under a snowfall warning.

Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) issued the warning for the city and areas to the west on Tuesday afternoon for “heavy snow” that is expected to begin overnight and through to Wednesday.

“This long duration snowfall event could produce total snowfall amounts as high as 30 to 50 cm, especially over areas with higher terrain,” reads the warning from ECCC.

The weather agency says areas in the city at higher elevations, such as Nose Hill, could see 10 to 15 cm, with other parts of the city getting much less.

It’s the second round of snowfall after the city woke up to wet and heavy snow on Tuesday morning. The storm caused some treacherous early morning road conditions in and outside of the city.

CityNews meteorologist Kevin Stanfield says he expects another 4 to 8 cm of snow, and up to 20 mm of rain, for most parts of the city moving forward.

“Positive temperatures will keep the majority of that snow from meaningfully accumulating,” he says. “Our high of 8 C Friday will take care of the remainder.”

Some schools close, communities left without power

It’s bad enough that some schools outside of Calgary closed Tuesday; in a statement, Strathcona-Tweedsmuir School, just outside of Okotoks, says it is closed.

The Foothills School Division has also closed Red Deer Lake School, Millarville School, and Longview School, as well as Oilfields High School, C. Ian McLaren School and Turner Valley School, in Diamond Valley.

Alberta 511 shows poor conditions in Bragg Creek, Millarville, and headed west toward K-Country, as well as south of the city in Okotoks and High River.

Several Calgary communities were without power Tuesday morning, according to Enmax.

There’s an unexpected power outage in multiple communities. We are investigating the cause and the power will be restored as quickly as possible. For the latest updates, go to https://t.co/WOjWO0IMDX. (Ref. 0123) #yyc pic.twitter.com/jmwM72tTFe

— ENMAX Power (@ENMAXpower) April 30, 2024

Outages began as early as 2 a.m. for some, while others popped up closer to 5 a.m.

Communities affected included Belmont, Legacy, Abbeydale, Applewood Park, Belvedere, Huxley, Red Carpet, Twinhills, East Shepard Industrial, Great Plains East, Rocky View County, Starfield East, Hawkwood, Bayview, Chinook Park, Eagle Ridge, Glenmore Park, Haysboro, Kelvin Grove, Pump Hill, and Tsuut’ina Nation.

City postpones street sweeping

Snowy conditions have prompted the City of Calgary to delay street sweeping in some communities affected by the spring storm.

Communities who will see sweeping postponed from Tuesday until June include Scenic Acres, Somerset, Riverbend, Quarry Park, Willow Park, Wildwood, Spruce Cliff and Shaganappi.

The city says this is due to snow and ice accumulation, which can create challenges for sweeping equipment.

However, Bridgeland, Panorama Hills, Whitehorn, and University Heights will still see staff working in their neighbourhood on Tuesday.

Sweeping is expected to continue as scheduled on Wednesday, weather permitting.

Listen live to CityNews660 for the latest on this developing story, including what you need to know in traffic and weather together on the ones.