Calgary Snowfall Warning: City Braces as Sunday Storm Threatens Travel
Environment Canada issued a calgary snowfall warning Saturday afternoon calling for a significant winter blast to hit the city on Sunday, with heavy snowfall of 10 to 20 centimetres expected to begin Sunday morning and the storm intensifying quickly through the afternoon and evening.
What will the Calgary Snowfall Warning bring?
The warning outlines a storm that will begin as a mix of rain and snow Sunday morning before shifting to heavy, steady snowfall near noon. Forecasters expect up to 10 centimetres through the daytime hours, with another 5 to 10 centimetres possible Sunday night as snow continues at times. The event is expected to peak through the afternoon and evening and taper off early Monday morning. Totals may vary widely across the city, but impacts to roads and visibility are likely to be felt everywhere.
Why travel will be tricky
Hazardous travel is the primary concern. The system arrives tied to a sharp frontal squall that can produce whiteout conditions and bursts of heavy snow. Wind warnings accompany the snowfall advisories: some regions are forecast to see gusts of 80–90+ km/h, with the potential for gusts up to 100 km/h across southern Alberta in the early afternoon. Drivers are advised to allow extra time, adjust to conditions, and be prepared for sudden changes in visibility. Highways 1, 2, 3 and 22 near and south of Calgary are forecast to have the worst conditions.
Timing, temperatures and regional contrasts
The storm follows a weekend of strong temperature contrasts across the province. Southern Alberta experienced a mild start to the weekend, with pockets of above-seasonal temperatures earlier, while northern areas remained far colder. That extreme gradient helps set up a razor-sharp cold front that will sag south and focus the heaviest snow and the strongest winds. For the city itself, temperatures are expected to fall from above seasonal on Saturday to around –3°C by Sunday afternoon, with wind chill making it feel closer to –10°C. There is high confidence for a rapid temperature drop of more than 15°C in just several hours for southern Alberta later in the week.
Environment Canada has warned that roads, sidewalks and pathways will become difficult to navigate and visibility will be reduced at times during the heaviest snowfall. The location of the heaviest snow may vary along the front, and small shifts in that boundary could produce big swings in snowfall amounts over short distances.
As the city moves toward Sunday, the calgary snowfall warning frames a narrow window in which large differences across neighbourhoods and on major routes are likely, and the advice to prepare for sudden changes in conditions remains central. With the storm expected to taper early Monday morning, questions remain about how localized the heaviest accumulations will be and which corridors will see the worst travel impacts.
