What was expected to be a mere 10cm of snow has ballooned into a major dump of more than 20cm over a large area. I measured 21cm here in Wetaskiwin, but drifts easily reach 2 or 3 feet.
The snow also came down very fast and the entire 20+cm came down in less than 12 hours which quickly overwhelmed motorists.
All the snow and wind caused hundreds of crashes in and around Edmonton, one of them involving more than 100 vehicles North of the Wetaskiwin overpass on the QE2. Wetaskiwin received some of the injured and stranded, local hotels are likely fully booked and buses were called in to help take people to Edmonton. A crash also occurred on 2A between Hobbema and Wetaskiwin completely severing the highway 2 corridor for about an hour until it was cleared up. Highways that managed to stay open were a parking lot of much of the day.
The storm may have been supercharged by a near record low AO(arctic osculation) dipping to -5.6 yesterday. So more extreme weather is not out of the question
Note: I will be putting off my spring 2013 forecast until a later date
AlbertaWX - Central Alberta Storm Chasers 