Snow helps but won't break drought
Precipitation won't alleviate water, fire concerns: meteorologist
March snowfall amounts could nearly triple the average for Calgary, but likely won't be enough to put a dent in drought conditions.
As of Sunday morning, just over 60 centimetres of the white stuff had powdered the Calgary International Airport in March, said Environment Canada meteorologist Eric Van Lochem.
March sees 22.7 cm total snowfall on average, followed by about 20 cm in April.
“If we get a little bit more snow towards the end of the month, we could be triple the average for the Calgary area,” said Van Lochem.
Despite receiving above-average amounts he said that this isn't necessarily abnormal, as March and April tend to be “feast or famine” in terms of snowfall.
“Some Marches, Aprils — those are typically the snowiest months — you'll get somewhere there's hardly any snow and then you'll get other years where there's big storm after big storm,” said Van Lochem.
For this week, things will look generally quieter weather-wise according to Van Lochem, although temperatures will be slightly cooler than seasonal.
He said there's about a 50/50 chance of another system coming in on Thursday or Friday, which could add a few centimetres onto existing snowpack.
Monday has a forecasted high of -6 C, followed by 2 C on Tuesday and 5 C on Wednesday. These temperatures are slightly below seasonal, he said.
“Certainly after what we had in the middle of the month, where we had a number of days that were pushing 15, 18 degrees in parts of Alberta; yeah, it's a bit of a shock for sure.”
The fortunate thing, Van Lochem said, is getting this snow later in the winter is probably better than having it earlier in the season when it comes to drought and wildfire concerns.
Today: -4 C Tonight: -10C Details: