Deep freeze ending for Calgary, but road conditions poor due to fresh snow

The end is in sight for the cold spell that has frozen Calgary over the past week.

Friday started at –28 C, but the Environment Canada forecast calls for temperatures above freezing for the holiday weekend. A high of 7 C is expected on Monday.

In the meantime, snow continued to fall in the city on Friday, making roads and driving conditions less than ideal.

According to Calgary police data, there were 252 collisions between 4 p.m. on Thursday and 12:40 p.m. on Friday. Of those, there were 197 non-injury collisions, eight injury collisions, 46 hit-and-run crashes and one hit-and-run incident resulting in an injury.

The city says crews focus on maintaining safe conditions on Calgary's busiest routes during any snowfall, per the city's priority snow plan.

At 3 p.m. Friday, snow stopped falling, activating the snow clock, the city said. 

"Our focus for the first 18 hours after snowfall is plowing through lanes and applying materials to Calgary's busiest routes per the city's priority snow plan," said Chris McGeachy, the spokesperson for the city's mobility department.

The focus is on the highest volume roads first — roads that typically see more than 20,000 trips a day — including Crowchild Trail, Glenmore Trail and Memorial Drive.

"Right now, we are seeing some slick areas out there, and we just want to remind people to take time to get to where they need to go," McGeachy said.

"The temperature is still very low. We are applying pickle mix, but there are slick areas out there that may cause some issues for traction, such as hills, bridge decks and intersections."

Highways around Calgary are also reported to have poor or low visibility.

Low temperatures are expected to continue through Friday, but McGeachy said the forecasted warmer weather over the weekend will help with the city's clearing efforts.