PHOTOS: Heavy snow blankets parts of Alberta before the cold sets in
While many may have felt like they were living in a snow globe, others felt the stress of the hazardous road conditions during Friday’s event.
It was a snowy Friday for many in southern Alberta, especially in parts of Calgary. In fact, there was enough of the white stuff on the ground to set a new monthly record in the major city.
Calgary International Airport (YYC) picked up a whopping 33.6 cm on Jan. 27, surpassing the previous daily January record of 25.4 cm from Jan. 3, 1913. It was enough to make for a new monthly record and was the biggest daily snowfall total at the airport since May 6, 1981 (48.4 cm).
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Meanwhile, heavy snow made for slippery and hazardous conditions along Highway 2, with multiple backups reported. Luckily, drivers will be able to breathe a sigh of relief as road conditions improve over the weekend.
After some residual snow fell overnight Friday, a ridge of high pressure moved in Saturday morning to allow for improving conditions.
The high pressure will be bringing sunshine back to the province this weekend. However, the sun will provide little warmth as cold, Arctic air moves back into the region, bringing about temperatures similar to those felt in December.
Temperatures will plunge into the minus double digits across the province, along with a bitter wind chill that will surely make everyone want to bundle up. Those in the eastern half of the province will bear the brunt of this extreme cold through the next week.
Check out some of the photos and videos taken during Friday’s snowfall event, below.
Thumbnail courtesy of Jonathan Lee Scholes/Twitter.
With files from Tyler Hamilton, a meteorologist at The Weather Network, and Nathan Howes, a digital journalist at The Weather Network.
