For the second time in a week, commuters in the Calgary area were forced to navigate some very messy roads after the city woke Thursday morning to a blanket of heavy wet snow.

On Wednesday, Environment and Climate Change Canada issued a special weather statement for a large swath of central and southern Alberta with up to 20 centimetres of snow, at times mixed with rain, forecast to fall in some areas around Calgary.

The possibility of some treacherous driving conditions also came with a warning that motorists should give themselves extra time to get where they were going.

As the storm system moved in overnight and then stalled over Calgary Thursday morning, Environment Canada also issued a “yellow warning,” or heavy snowfall warning, for the City of Calgary.

“It started this morning (Thursday) with a light rain and from there things have just fallen apart,” said Global Calgary traffic and weather specialist Leslie Horton.

“Moved in around four o’clock this morning, started with a light rain and then turned to a rain-snow mix. Now it is snow. It is going to wind down this afternoon, probably by dinnertime, and then we’ve got a nice day on tap for tomorrow (Friday). So we will see some melting pretty much Friday and Saturday.”

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The heaviest band of snow stretched from Canmore in the west through Calgary to Strathmore, located about 50 kilometres to the east of the city, with rain falling in the more southeastern areas of the province around Medicine Hat.

Calgary police reported at least 163 crashes on city streets between midnight and noon on Thursday, 22 of which had reported injuries.

“(It’s) no surprise. March and April are high accumulation months, whether it is snow or rain,” said City of Calgary mobility spokesperson Chris McGeachy.

“I’m sure some people would have been hoping for rain by this point. Hopefully the temperatures will co-operate with us, but our crews are out there 24/7 responding.”

The temperature in Calgary is expected to be around 8 C on Friday and 5 C on Saturday, so much of the snow that fell should melt — a help to anyone who is planning to drive somewhere for the Easter long weekend.

But flurries are in the forecast again for Sunday, before the mercury climbs back up Monday into the high single digits.

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