EDMONTON — Edmontonians woke up Saturday morning to deep snow drifts and rough roads after a night of steady snowfall blanketed the city and region.

Anywhere from 10 to 20 centimetres of snow has already covered the city and surrounding areas, with up to 10 more centimetres expected before the system lets up Sunday, said Environment Canada meteorologist David Schmidt.

“The snow really won’t let up probably until Saturday night into Sunday morning,” Schmidt said. “That’s when it’ll taper off.”

A snowfall warning is still in effect for the city and outlying areas, with brisk winds and blowing snow causing poor visibility on regional roads.

Flights at the Edmonton International Airport were for the most part on schedule, though a spokeswoman said most flights coming in from Toronto were delayed because of a snowstorm that hit there.

“When a flight is delayed inbound, it usually causes delays outbound,” Sarah Meffen said.

She added the airport had double the number of crews working to clear, sand and de-ice the runways Saturday.

“We normally have eight crews out to deal with regular winter conditions — today we have over 20,” Meffen said. “Our operations team is running at full throttle.”

Travellers are advised to check with their airline or airport website at www.flyeia.com for the status of any flight.

The Alberta Motor Association reported poor road conditions for city streets and surrounding highways, with poor visibility and icy conditions.

“We don’t get too many storms like this, luckily, through the year,” said AMA spokesman Terry Clovechok. “But it is provincewide. The resulting road conditions throughout the province are severe.”

The current wait for a tow truck in the city is anywhere from eight to 12 hours, according to an AMA manager.

“We’re not recommending travel anywhere in the province, especially the city,” said technical services manager Randy Loyk. “Stay home if you can.”

The wait for service calls for battery boosts, lock outs and tire changes is around 90 minutes, he added.

RCMP advised people throughout the province to avoid driving under any circumstances, with many areas reporting whiteout conditions. Severe weather conditions caused RCMP to close Highway 2 in both directions Saturday afternoon, from Bowden to Airdrie.

“There is zero visibility in so many areas from Fort McMurray south,” said RCMP spokesman Patrick Webb. He said drivers who must go out on the roads should be prepared to wait out the storm if they get stuck in a ditch or worse.

“Under no circumstances should you leave your car if you get stuck in a ditch,” Webb said. “Be prepared to stay with your vehicle.”

He advised motorists keep blankets, warm clothing, food, an operable cellphone and a candle in their cars as a precaution.

The city will have its entire fleet of about 107 graders, sanding and plowing trucks clearing roads around the clock, said the city’s director of roadway maintenance, Bob Dunford. The city also hired private graders to start work at midnight Saturday.

Crews start with the busiest roads and work their way down, with priority given to hills and bridges, especially in the river valley area.

The city is advising motorists to give themselves more time to get to their destinations, use caution when passing snow maintenance equipment and keep parked cars off plowing routes.

Drivers will have to be patient because the amount of snow is making it difficult for road-clearing crews to keep up, Dunford said.

City crews normally clear high-speed, high-traffic arterial roads from midnight to 7 a.m. during a snowfall, then move on to collector roads where buses run, Dunford said. Crews might have trouble getting to those bus routes before Monday this time, he warned.

“There are some issues with the collector roadways being plugged up right now,” he said. “We do want to get into the collectors for Monday because it’s going to make the morning commute difficult if we don’t get into them. It’s a matter of how many (privately hired) graders do show up and how much progress we can make given that the snow is continuing.”

Dunford could not estimate how long it will be before residential streets are cleared.

Buses were operating more than an hour behind scheduled by Saturday afternoon, said ETS spokeswoman Patricia Dickson. Buses were getting stuck in snow drifts all over the city, she added.

“The priority is to plow bus routes, so as the bus routes get plowed out, our ability to keep up will be better,” Dickson said. “We run in tandem.”

The steady snow was brought into our region by a slow-moving low pressure system just south of Medicine Hat, Schmidt said. The system is expected to eventually make its way east across southern Saskatchewan by Sunday afternoon.

“It’s quite slow moving and that’s one of the main concerns we’ve had,” he said. “It’s going to be very slow to improve.”

Some parts of the city and region could see up to 30 centimetres of snow when the storm finally passes through.

But once the storm passes, Edmontonians should brace for much colder temperatures, according to the long-range forecast.

“Once the snow and clouds gradually move away from us, we’re looking at a very cold air mass form the north,” Schmidt said. “It’ll be a trend to less snow, but colder temperatures.”

Forecasted lows for the middle of next week are currently hovering around the -20 to -25 C range.

— With files from Andrea Sands

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