Alberta Road Conditions and Highway Weather

Major highways in Alberta

The corridors this page follows, each with its own page. Surface and temperature are the latest readings along the whole road; the summits are where the same road is a different drive.

• Highway 2 (QEII) — The QEII between Calgary and Edmonton is the busiest road in the province and the one a prairie blizzard closes: flat, fast and open to the wind, with nothing between the two cities to stop a whiteout.
• Highway 16 (Yellowhead) — The Yellowhead from the Rockies at Jasper through Edmonton to the Saskatchewan line: mountain snow west of Hinton, prairie wind east of it, and the road the 2024 Jasper wildfire closed for eighteen days.

Closures and road work are not yet imported for Alberta; 511 Alberta carries them. No weather warnings from Environment and Climate Change Canada are in force as of Sep 20, 2026 5:49 AM MDT.

Alberta Winter Tire Rules

Alberta has no winter tire law. The province recommends four winter or all-weather tires for severe conditions and leaves the choice to the driver; what it does require is that you drive to the conditions, and a ticket for failing to is the only one on offer. The exception is federal: inside Jasper National Park the Icefields Parkway needs snow tires or chains from November 1 to March 31.

What the law says

The mandate a driver does meet in Alberta is Parks Canada's, not the province's: on the Icefields Parkway (Highway 93 between Lake Louise and Jasper) and the Marmot Basin road your vehicle must have snow tires or chains from November 1 to March 31, or whenever the road is covered with snow and ice. Snow tires carry the snowflake or M+S symbol. Highway 16 through Jasper National Park carries no such rule.

Currently, Alberta has not mandated winter tires for vehicles during the winter months; Alberta Transportation recommends driving in severe winter conditions with vehicles equipped with four winter or all-weather tires for improved traction and control. Nothing in provincial law prohibits studded tires or tire chains at any time of year, but damage to the roadway is an offence under section 51 of the Highways Development and Protection Act, and a peace officer can charge for it. You are legally required to drive according to road conditions and can be ticketed if you do not.

Studded tires

Studded tires are legal in Alberta all year: neither the province nor its municipalities have legislation restricting them. Several neighbouring jurisdictions do, and Alberta Transportation tells drivers heading out of the province to check before the trip.

How you will know it is active

• 511 Alberta, which reports the road condition of every provincial highway section, updated at least daily in winter and whenever it changes
• RCMP travel advisories, issued when a storm makes travel unsafe -- as on 17 December 2025, when the advice was against travel on every road in the province
• Parks Canada's own signs and pages for the national park roads

There is no seasonal switch to watch here. What changes is the road itself, and 511 Alberta ↗ is the province's own account of it before you set off.

Source: Alberta Transportation, Winter Tires (Safer Winter Highways), checked September 9, 2026.

When roads get bad in Alberta

What the road normally throws at you, month by month, from Environment and Climate Change Canada's 1981–2010 normals at Calgary International Airport, Edmonton International Airport, Jasper East Gate on Highway 16 and Grande Prairie Airport — four stations, four climates, and each month names the worst of them and the place that measured it. This is what the month is usually like, not a forecast and not a rule.

• Jan Snow 35 cm of snow in an average month at Grande Prairie, with 31 nights below freezing at Edmonton.
• Feb Freezing rain Freezing rain on about 1.3 day a month somewhere on the network, and 28 nights below freezing at Edmonton.
• Mar Freezing rain Freezing rain on about 1.6 days a month somewhere on the network, and 30 nights below freezing at Edmonton.
• Apr Freezing rain Freezing rain on about 0.5 day a month somewhere on the network, and 23 nights below freezing at Jasper East Gate.
• May Cold nights 12 nights below freezing at Jasper East Gate; the high passes can still see snow.
• Jun Rain and fog Frost is rare even at Jasper East Gate, the coldest of the four; the hazards are rain, fog and the odd summer storm.
• Jul Rain and fog Frost is rare even at Jasper East Gate, the coldest of the four; the hazards are rain, fog and the odd summer storm.
• Aug Rain and fog Frost is rare even at Jasper East Gate, the coldest of the four; the hazards are rain, fog and the odd summer storm.
• Sep Cold nights 8 nights below freezing at Jasper East Gate; the high passes can still see snow.
• Oct Freezing rain Freezing rain on about 0.5 day a month somewhere on the network, and 23 nights below freezing at Edmonton.
• Nov Freezing rain Freezing rain on about 2.1 days a month somewhere on the network, and 29 nights below freezing at Edmonton.
• Dec Freezing rain Freezing rain on about 1.4 day a month somewhere on the network, and 31 nights below freezing at Edmonton.

Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada, Canadian Climate Normals 1981–2010, through the MSC GeoMet API. Snowfall is the monthly total; nights below freezing are days whose minimum was at or under 0 °C.

511 Alberta is the free traveller information service run by Alberta Transportation and Economic Corridors, at 511.alberta.ca, by phone, app and web. It is the province's own account of its highways, and it publishes:

• Highway conditions for every section of the provincial network, reported by the maintenance crews and updated at least once a day in winter and whenever they change
• Roadwork, major incidents, closures and weather alerts
• Traffic camera images, and the live location of every snowplow and maintenance vehicle
• Ferry availability and border crossing wait times

511 Alberta and the conditions on this page

511 Alberta reports what the maintenance crews have seen and declared for each section: bare, partly covered, covered, closed. What this page adds is the layer under those declarations — the surface condition estimated along the whole road from radar and analysis, the air temperature and the wind, which on the QEII between Calgary and Edmonton is the number that says whether the snow that has already fallen is about to move.

Alberta Winter Driving FAQ

Are winter tires mandatory in Alberta?

No. Alberta has not mandated winter tires for vehicles during the winter months; Alberta Transportation recommends four winter or all-weather tires for severe conditions and leaves it there. What the law does require is that you drive according to road conditions, and you can be ticketed if you do not. The one place in the province where winter tires or chains are compulsory is federal land: the Icefields Parkway in Jasper and Banff national parks, November 1 to March 31.

Are studded tires legal in Alberta?

Yes, all year. Neither the province nor its municipalities have legislation restricting studded tires or tire chains; the only offence is damaging the road, under the Highways Development and Protection Act. That is unusual: most neighbouring jurisdictions restrict studs to a season, so a driver crossing into British Columbia or the United States on them should check the rule there first.

Does 511 Alberta say whether the QEII is closed?

Yes. 511 Alberta, run by the Government of Alberta, reports highway conditions, roadwork, major incidents, weather alerts and closures for the provincial network, with camera images and the live position of every snowplow. Winter road conditions are updated at least once a day and whenever they change significantly. A closure of Highway 2 between Calgary and Edmonton is posted there as it happens.

What closes Alberta highways in winter?

Wind and whiteout on the prairie, snow in the mountains. The QEII between Calgary and Edmonton closes when blowing snow takes the visibility away — on 17 December 2025 a pile-up of 80 to 100 vehicles between Airdrie and Calgary shut it for the afternoon and the RCMP advised against travel on every road in the province. Highway 16 west of Hinton closes for mountain snow and, in July 2024, for eighteen days while the Jasper wildfire burned.