Environment and Climate Change Canada (Environment Canada) is forecasting heavy snowfall for a wide swath of Alberta Thursday with lesser amounts expected to fall in Mountain View County and nearby urban centres than in Red Deer County.
The federal agency issued a snowfall warning Wednesday for parts of Alberta, advising that starting early Thursday morning, snowfall was expected to become heavy before ending Thursday evening.
Ten to 20 centimetres (cm) of snow is expected largely to the west and north of Mountain View County and Red Deer County including in Clearwater County near Caroline and James River Bridge.
No warning was issued for Mountain View County or Red Deer County.
Snow is expected to fall in the Airdrie - Cochrane - Olds - Sundre area beginning Thursday morning.
Two to four cm is forecasted.
According to Environment Canada, wind will hit 20 kilometres an hour (km/h) near noon then increase to 40 km/h, gusting to 60. The high will be -3 degrees Celsius (C). Wind chill will be -7 C in the morning and -15 C in the afternoon.
There's a risk of freezing rain in the morning.
Meanwhile in the Red Deer – Ponoka – Innisfail – Stettler area, the federal agency says there’s a 30 per cent chance of flurries Wednesday night.
On Thursday, five to 10 cm of snow is expected in the area.
Wind will be northwest 30 km/h gusting to 50 km/h in the afternoon. The high is expected to be -2 C and with the wind chill, -6 C in the morning and -17 C in the afternoon.
