By Taylor Chartrand

Winter-blast leaves its mark on southern Alberta

Apr 28, 2019 | 10:08 AM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – It started out with rain and heavy winds in the Medicine Hat region last night and escalated to snow over night.

Not only did the storm leave the roads in terrible conditions, but it also left some in the area without power.

Currently, Communications Advisor with Alberta Transportation, Wayne Wood, said Highway 56 between Chestermere and Bassano is the only road that remains closed at this time.

“All the other highways have been re-opened,” explained Wood. “Although, with the caution that it’s still storming in some parts of the province and as the snow-plows go by, it still continues to snow and conditions are going to stay relatively rough.” 

But, even though some roads have been re-opened, Wood isn’t recommending travel in our area of the province any time soon.

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“Because there’s still a severe weather warning in effect for that area of the province, we’re advising people that if they don’t have to be going anywhere today, they should probably not go anywhere today. Stay home if at all possible. Road conditions are not great and they won’t be great until the storm passes through and crews can get their hands on things. So, certainly the advice is stay home if you can.”

If for some reason you do have to travel today though, Wood says you should constantly be monitoring Alberta 511.

“511 has real-time conditions of all the highways across the province and there is an app that you can download which will tell you what highway conditions are. There are cameras that show what the highways look like and certainly if you do get stranded on a highway during a storm, the best advice is to stay in your vehicle, put on your 4-way flashers and essentially, shelter in place and eventually, a crew will come by and help you out.”

In addition, the roads to the east aren’t much better.

At 8:30 MST, Highway 1 west bound lanes 4 km west of Gull Lake to Carmichael were listed as ‘closed’ by Saskatchewan’s Highway Hotline due to a motor vehicle accident. 

RCMP are diverting traffic back east.

It’s also worth nothing that Environment Canada currently has a blizzard warning in effect for:

• City of Medicine Hat
• Co. of Forty Mile near Bow Island and Whitla
• Co. of Newell near Patricia
• Co. of Newell near Tilley and Rolling Hills
• Cypress Co. near Bowell and Redcliff
• Cypress Co. near Bowmanton Schuler and Hilda
• Cypress Co. near CFB Suffield
• Cypress Co. near Dunmore and Woolchester
• Cypress Co. near Irvine and Walsh
• Cypress Co. near McNeill and Sandy Point District Park
• Cypress Co. near Seven Persons
• Cypress Co. near Suffield and Hwy 879
• Cypress Co. near Tide Lake
• S.A. 2 near Bindloss Empress and Social Plains
• S.A. 2 near Buffalo and Cavendish
• S.A. 2 near Iddesleigh and Dinosaur Prov. Park
• S.A. 2 near Jenner and Atlee

An excerpt from their warning says:

“Very strong winds near 70 gusting 100 km/h combined with heavy falling snow is giving reduced visibility in blowing snow. Periods of whiteout conditions are expected, especially over eastern sections of the Trans-Canada Highway.”

“Total snowfall amounts of 10 to 20 cm are expected with locally higher amounts near 30 cm possible. Heavy snow and strong winds will taper off from the north throughout the morning.”