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I feel bad for Albertans
EDMONTON - Western Canada's spring bout of winter weather may have people seeing red as they shovel the white stuff, but it has proven a godsend for parched prairie soil.
A slow-moving upper low pressure system from the Pacific, fed by lingering Arctic cold air, continued Monday to park itself over the Prairies, delivering snow and freezing rain from Alberta to Manitoba.
The snow dump - which reached 40 centimetres in some regions of Alberta over the weekend - snarled roads and led to multiple car crashes, including a collision near Olds, Alta., involving a semi-truck and a car that left one person dead.
The blustery conditions were all the more irritating because Canadians in Central Canada were basking in balmy temperatures - with forecasts suggesting the sunshine was to continue through the week.
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Dan Kulak of Environment Canada said snowfall amounts were around 20 centimetres in the major cities - a big dump but far from the 48 centimetres recorded one May day in Calgary 27 years ago.
It's spring, it's Canada, it's the Prairies. Deal with it, said Kulak, a warning preparedness meteorologist.
"Don't take the snow tires off yet. I'm not saying we're going to get a dump in May, but May is notorious for having big storms when they do happen."
Temperatures were not expected to get back above the freezing mark until the end of the week, and, even then, they were expected to be 10 degrees cooler than the seasonal average.
.
.
.
A slow-moving upper low pressure system from the Pacific, fed by lingering Arctic cold air, continued Monday to park itself over the Prairies, delivering snow and freezing rain from Alberta to Manitoba.
The snow dump - which reached 40 centimetres in some regions of Alberta over the weekend - snarled roads and led to multiple car crashes, including a collision near Olds, Alta., involving a semi-truck and a car that left one person dead.
The blustery conditions were all the more irritating because Canadians in Central Canada were basking in balmy temperatures - with forecasts suggesting the sunshine was to continue through the week.
.
.
.
Dan Kulak of Environment Canada said snowfall amounts were around 20 centimetres in the major cities - a big dump but far from the 48 centimetres recorded one May day in Calgary 27 years ago.
It's spring, it's Canada, it's the Prairies. Deal with it, said Kulak, a warning preparedness meteorologist.
"Don't take the snow tires off yet. I'm not saying we're going to get a dump in May, but May is notorious for having big storms when they do happen."
Temperatures were not expected to get back above the freezing mark until the end of the week, and, even then, they were expected to be 10 degrees cooler than the seasonal average.
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I feel bad for them. I really do.
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