City of Lethbridge begins clearing streets amid fall snowfall

Drivers in Lethbridge faced snow-covered roads on Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2023.

The first blast of winter weather hit southern Alberta this week, causing some challenging travel conditions for Lethbridge commuters.

The City of Lethbridge says road crews are working around the clock to deal with the city's first snowfall of the 2023-24 season.

"We already had crews out last night and they've been working all day long," said Juliane Ruck, the city's transportation operations manager, on Tuesday.

"We first focus on Priority One routes, the most important routes in the city, like Whoop-Up Drive, University Drive and Mayor Magrath Drive, and once those are in reasonable winter conditions we move onto Priority Two and Three routes," Ruck said.

She says six plows are out at any given time, with crews working on a 24-hour schedule.

If needed, snow routes will be declared once Priority One routes are cleared.

By Tuesday, Lethbridge had recorded about 15 centimetres of snow in a 24-hour period.

According to the Alberta Motor Association, wait times for a tow in Lethbridge were close to 10 hours on Tuesday.

The snowfall also contributed to a busy day for the Lethbridge Police Service.

"Typically, the first snowfalls of the year, we do see a rise in reported collisions and our collision reporting centre gets busier at this time of the year," said Sgt. Daniel Lomness.

Meanwhile, the snow also prompted a flood of calls at local tire shops.

"It's been busy," said Simon Hendriks, manager of Kal Tire south, adding that appointments started filling up once there was snow in the forecast.

"An all-season summer tire, they don't have the same compounds as a winter tire," Hendriks explained.

"A winter tire has a compound and design for stopping distance when it's bad like this. It'll handle the wet, the cold, the snow, the ice and all that stuff."

Ruck is urging residents to drive for the weather conditions, and leave plenty of room for city crews.

"It's very important to stay back at least five car lengths from our plows, as there's lots of blind spots when you operate this big equipment.

"It really helps our operators when residents don't encroach or get too close and make it dangerous."

For more information on pathway and sidewalk snow removal in Lethbridge, you can visit the City of Lethbridge's website.