September snow: Calgarians share their before and after pictures

A year ago Calgary was blanketed in white as the freak weather event dubbed Snowtember shocked the city with an early blast of winter.

• How did Snowtember affect you? Send your before and after photos to [email protected] or tweet us @cbccalgary

Heavy wet snow from two back-to-back storms damaged many thousands of trees across Calgary, toppling branches onto power lines and knocking out power for thousands of Enmax customers.

• September snow falls in Calgary, western Alberta

Tree-care specialists and city crews are still busy trying to repair the damage the storm did to Calgary's urban canopy.

Arborist still busy a year after Snowtember

9 years ago

Duration 1:03

The city's trees took a beating last year when a surprise snowfall hit the city. Arborist Keegan Davidson says he is still finding storm-related damage in Calgary's tree tops.

​In response to Snowtember, the city enacted an aggressive tree pruning program that will cost $35.5 million.

Every city-owned tree will be pruned over the next three years. 

The city estimates Snowtember damaged more than a million trees. Mayor Naheed Nenshi says storm recovery will take much more time.

"I had said last year that we wouldn't know the full extent of the tree damage until the trees leafed out," he said. "And it was a little bit better than our worst expectations, and we continue through ReTree YYC and other programs to plant, but this is a years-long recovery program. It's not something that can be done in half an hour." 

Officials say the city has planted more than 6,500 trees so far.