Winds gusting up to near 90 km/h by daybreak yesterday created a cat and mouse game for city crews trying to respond to numerous reports of damage caused by the gusting gales, mixed with wet snow, which quickly reduced worker visibility by mid morning.
Aside from more than eight reports of damaged street lamps in all areas of the city, repair crews also had to contend with three separate instances of traffic lights being sheared off of their mounting arms, according to city officials.
Several trees had also toppled over in different areas of the city, due to the gale-force winds.
The large triple light signals were blown from their stanchions — they remained tethered mid-air by only a few feet of electric cables, and continued to thrash about precariously over vehicles as they sped beneath them during the morning rush until emergency crews could respond.
City traffic manager Troy McLeod reported that repair crews and the Fire Department were quick to respond to all calls received.
Power outages were reported as the snowstorm blew through the city, and flights at Calgary International airport were reported to have been delayed or cancelled.
Environment Canada lifted the high-wind warning for the Calgary area late yesterday afternoon. And though it snowed most of the day, very little of it accumulated on Calgary streets.
