We ended up with about 50cm of snow on October 2.  Calgary got somewhere near 40cm, other places in Southern Alberta were hit just as hard.  Records were broken.  We typically do not see this amount of snow any time, never mind at the beginning of Fall.

The road out front leading to the highway was not in good shape, to say the least, but it was plowed twice by mid-morning.  This amazes me, seeing as any of the streets I lived on, other than 14 Avenue which is a main north-south street in Calgary, never would have been plowed within 12 hours of the storm ending.  I called my contractor in the morning and my driveway was cleared by 4pm.

I have a huge driveway.  It is a semi-circle and about 300′ long in total.  He used a Bobcat to clear it.  The ground was still quite soft so he has to be careful not to dig up the ground but he did a great job.  It would have taken all day to clear with a snowblower, never mind trying to use a shovel.

So, this was my first taste of a nasty storm in the mountains.  As long as it doesn’t happen on a weekly basis, I think I will be OK with it.  Take note though, in future years, you can wait until after the first week of October to come.  Winter is still 2.5 months away after all.