Calgarians woke up to the first real snow of the season Monday, and more is expected in the days to come.
Flurries started to fly Sunday evening, and the snow continued on and off into the afternoon. Environment Canada was calling for as much as 10 centimetres before all was said and done.
The snow caused havoc on city streets early Monday with police reporting nearly 400 crashes between midnight and 4 p.m. Luckily, only 26 of the collisions involved injuries.
Temperatures were expected to hit a high of -1 C, but the wind chill will made it feel closer to -9 C.
“It might feel pretty cold because we’re just not quite used to it, definitely going to be below seasonal, it’s going to get colder as the week goes on,” said Sean Cunningham with ECCC.
Chris McGeachy with the City of Calgary says they’re ready to tackle the white stuff.
“Crews are on their 24/7 shift,” he told 660 NewsRadio. “We have been monitoring the forecast through the weekend and preparing. Crews right now are focused on plowing through lanes on major routes and applying material.”
Major routes are road in Calgary that see 20,000 trips or more during the day: Crowchild Trail, Glenmore Trail, and Memorial Drive.
McGeachy says Calgary is now in full-blown winter driving conditions, and it’s important to drive as such.
“Expect that things might take a little longer today, leave plenty of time to get to your destination, leave plenty of space between your vehicle and the vehicle in front,” he said.
Snow detours in effect for Calgary Transit
Due to the snowfall, Calgary Transit activated its detours starting Monday morning.
The goal of the detours is to keep service moving safely and reliably.
Calgary Transit says snow detours will be in place for the first trips of the day Monday.
Activating them city-wide at the same time helps prevent buses from getting stuck and avoids delays for transit riders and commuters.
Detours will be in place until conditions improve. At that point, they could be lifted city-wide or by quadrant.
All school routes will stay in place and not be impacted by detours.
A full list of bus routes that have designated snow detours, including maps, is available at calgarytransit.com/snowdetours
According to the city, snow detours are designed based on where buses typically get stuck, customer feedback, and insight from bus operators.
Orange signs along commonly detoured routes show which stops could be closed in the event of a snow detour.
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