Courtesy/Jenna Lynn (Facebook)

By Jesse Gill

Winter Storm

Damage and power outages caused by winter storm through Medicine Hat Wednesday

Dec 18, 2025 | 2:01 PM

A winter storm on Wednesday, Dec. 17, combined with high winds, caused damage in Medicine Hat and power outages.

Several roads were blocked by downed trees, while blowing debris created hazardous conditions.

Jenna Lynn had commented on social media that her kids lost their treehouse and trampoline due to the wind.

“The treehouse was built seven years ago and has been through a lot of windstorms without damage. This is awful,” Lynn said when asked for a statement.

She later shared that the treehouse will be removed from the downed tree and turned into a ground-level playhouse.

What's On

Here is what's on this weekend in Medicine Hat: February 13-16

Feb 13, 2026

In the Community

Save-On-Foods supports Medicine Hat Public Library's Honeycomb House

Feb 05, 2026

What's On

Top five things to do at the Medicine Hat Public Library in February

Feb 01, 2026

—

Courtesy/Jenna Lynn (Facebook)

Medicine Hat Fire and Emergency Services had responded to several downed power lines and trees.

A representative stated that they didn’t observe any serious damage or injuries, and there were no fires.

The fire department will respond to the downed power lines to assess before the electrical workers arrive.

—

Courtesy/Jared Stirling (Facebook)

In the situation of a downed tree, they will determine if the tree belongs to the City or is privately owned.

The City will then clean up their trees, but not privately owned trees, which are the responsibility of the owner.

The City of Medicine Hat’s communications department said that there were fewer than 50 customers without power yesterday, and service was restored within an hour for most and within two hours for others.

—

A fallen tree on Third Street Southeast in Medicine Hat. Courtesy/Lisa Johnson (Facebook)

An area in Redcliff’s southeast corner was impacted, which included the Jim Pattison Broadcast Centre.

The intense Alberta Clipper brought strong winds, snow and blowing snow across the province, with Environment Canada saying central Alberta was impacted mainly by heavy snow, and southern Alberta had strong winds and blowing snow.

Along the Highway 3 corridor and along the U.S. Border, wind gusts were reported from 100 to 131 km/h.

Wind speeds in Bow Island reached 107, Brooks was 96, and Medicine Hat peaked at 87.

One Four, located near the Wildhorse border crossing in Cypress County, recorded the top wind speed of 131 km/hr.

Environment Canada said strong winds made snow measurements difficult.

Medicine Hat reported about three centimetres of snow at the airport, with three millimetres of rain earlier in the day.

Brooks reported between four and five centimetres of snow.

Terri Lang, a meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, said the temperature rapidly shifted over a short period in the afternoon.

“Medicine Hat at 2 p.m., the temperature was 6.5 °C., and by 3 p.m., the temperature was -9 °C. So that’s a temperature difference of about 15 °C in the course of an hour. A very sharp cold front came through there,” Lang said.

“I also looked at Brooks. At 1 p.m., they were 1 °C, and at 2 p.m., they were -11.5 °C. So, really strong drops in temperature that we saw associated with that particular system,” she added.

“We don’t see big temperature drops like that very often.”

The City of Medicine Hat’s communications department said that there were fewer than 50 customers without power on Wednesday, with service restored within an hour for most and within two hours for others.

A tree had fallen and blocked River Road to the east of the City Hall parkade entrance on Wednesday.

City Hall was then closed for the day at 3:35 p.m. due to severe weather, and the city offered its staff the opportunity to head home early while it was still light outside.

Freezing rain was observed in the Leader and Fox Valley area on Wednesday, with the top wind speed in the province of Saskatchewan at 128 km/h in Eastend.

Another clipper is expected in Medicine Hat overnight Thursday into the morning.

“Not as strong. Takes a different path. You might see a shot of snow this evening, and then temperatures climb overnight. Then in the morning, that’s when the cold front with that clipper comes through,” Lang said.

“Maybe a shot of rain with that, and boom, another shift to cold temperatures,” she added.

“By afternoon, the temperatures will be dropping. So again, with that flash freeze. Then into the deep freeze for at least a few days.”

Lang adds that temperatures are expected to moderate around Tuesday.

There is a possibility of a white Christmas for Medicine Hat, as the extended forecast has the potential of snow on Christmas Eve.

Lang said that, being winter, we have to expect these winter driving conditions.

“Especially coming into the travel season here with the holidays. We saw what happened yesterday, north of Calgary, with accidents,” Lang said.

“Folks really need to be paying attention to highway conditions and to weather forecasts when they’re planning their travel, be prepared to modify their travel if the conditions warrant.”

The blizzard created a monster traffic tie-up on Alberta’s main north-south highway on Wednesday.

Police said that snow and wind had forced 80 to 100 cars to stop on the highway between Calgary and Airdrie.

Police add that the snarl was caused in part by a tractor-trailer jack-knifing, closing the highway in both directions.

Weather forecasts are available on the Environment Canada website.

Highway information is available on 511 Alberta and the Saskatchewan Highway Hotline.