The worst snowstorm of the season swept through Alberta over the weekend leaving Okotoks in a whiteout and closing highways throughout the foothills.
Blowing snow created whiteout conditions and large snow drifts, leaving dozens of motorists stranded both in town and on surrounding highways. The storm closed down the TransCanada Highway east of Strathmore and Highway 2 between Bowden and Airdrie.
Environment Canada meteorologist Bill McMurtry said the snowfall in Okotoks and surrounding areas, only about three to eight centimetres, was minimal compared to other parts of the province like Edmonton where there was about 25 centimetres.
“There wasn’t a lot of a snow in the Okotoks area,” said McMurtry. “But the big deal was the fact that we had very strong winds and any snow that did fall was blown around quite a bit.”
Wind gusts of between 70 and 75 km per hour caused blowing snow and reduced visibility on the roadways. The strong winds also caused large snowdrifts to develop on Saturday and Sunday, he said.
“In some locations, the visibility was essentially zero,” McMurtry said. “We’ve had reports that you could barely see the front of your vehicle in those conditions.”
However, just as the roads are being cleared, this weekend could be déjŕ vu. Environment Canada has forecasted periods of snow this Friday, as well as flurries on Saturday and Sunday.
“There is a system on Friday and Saturday that could produce some snow,” McMurtry said. “It’s nowhere near the same size or scale as the one that we had last weekend, but we’re keeping our eyes on it.”
Several school buses weren’t running Monday morning due to some rural and side roads not being cleared yet, said an official for the Foothills School Division.
Dave Robertson, municipal operations manager for the Town of Okotoks, said snow removal crews worked hard to clear snow as soon as possible once the storm began Friday night.
“Crews worked around the clock over the weekend,” Robertson said at the town council meeting Monday.
The Town has also contracted a private company to assist with snow removal both downtown and on Milligan Drive. The Town has three trucks with plows and sanders, one grader and one front-end loader that have been working on snow removal throughout the storm, he said.
As of Monday morning, Okotoks Mayor Bill Robertson said the Town received 31 complaints from residents about snow removal, the main concern being the snow drifts.
Robertson said the snow clearing efforts are focused on widening travel lanes on main routes in town in order to make room for more snow expected to fall later this week. He said snow removal crews wouldn’t be making their way to residential streets unless they are in really bad condition.
“We don’t have the manpower to go into the residential streets,” explained municipal manager Rick Quail.
If the Town was to attempt clearing all residential streets, Quail said it could take up to a month to remove all the snow.
Quail also asked Okotoks residents to remove their vehicles from the main roads to make space for snow removal crews to work.
It was also a busy weekend for local towing companies.
Big Rock Towing hauled out an estimated 60 vehicles in Okotoks and surrounding areas between Saturday night and Monday afternoon, said Tyler Hart, one of the company’s truck operators.
Hart said the amount of snowfall wasn’t unusual for this time of year, but the high winds were a huge contributing factor to the bad road conditions.
On Friday, a gust of wind flipped a semi-trailer truck in Longview onto its side and it skidded into the ditch, Hart said.
“This was by far the worst storm of the season for cars getting stuck, just due to the drift,” Hart said. “Most trucks were fine, but if you had a Honda Civic or a little Suzuki in a foot of snow, you would definitely get stuck.”
Hart added many vehicles were left in the ditch over the weekend as people abandoned their cars.
Hart said the towing company prioritized the calls to ensure no one was left in a dangerous situation.
“If somebody went into a ditch and had been picked up, then we didn’t send a tow truck out to them if there was a family of four stranded on the other side of the road,” Hart said. “Emergencies were the priority.”
Meanwhile, at Lube Town on North Railway Street in Okotoks, workers scrambled to clear the four-foot snowdrift blocking their car bays on Monday morning.
“It took us about an hour with the shovels, and then luckily the snowplow came by and cleared it all up for us,” said manager Shawn Clements.
“I knew there was going to be some snow but I wasn’t expecting the four-foot snow drift out back,” Clements added. “Nothing that a little elbow grease can’t fix though.”
To report problems with snow removal, call the Town’s operation department at 403-938-4372.
