“Only 5 cm of snow” can be a bigger problem than 20 cm. Around here, it often is.
The snowfall total tells you how much fell. It doesn’t tell you what the snow will do. In southern Alberta, the thing that turns a light snowfall into a bad day is almost always the wind.
Why wind changes everything
- A few centimetres of light, dry snow and a strong wind can produce blowing snow and whiteouts on open roads.
- Wind packs snow into hard drifts across driveways, rural roads and highway cuts.
- Snow that blows onto a warm road can melt, then freeze into a glaze once the sun goes down.
Temperature matters too
- Near 0°C: heavy, wet snow. It’s hard to shovel, sticks to power lines and trees, and gets slushy on roads.
- Around −5 to −10°C: classic packing snow. It compacts into ruts and ice on busy streets.
- Colder than about −15°C: light, powdery snow. It’s easy to shovel but blows around in any wind.
What to do
- Look at the wind forecast alongside the snowfall forecast.
- Expect open stretches of highway to be worse than city streets.
- Clear snow before it gets packed down, especially on steps and the end of the driveway.
- Check road reports before rural or highway travel. 511 Alberta shows current conditions.
Follow the temperature, wind and snowfall live at westlethbridgeweather.com, and visit our Preparedness page to get your home and vehicle ready for winter.
Related: Live conditions at West Lethbridge Weather · Preparedness · 511 Alberta road conditions
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