Crews ready to roll as snowstorm roars into city

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This article was published 05/12/2016 (2845 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The city said its snow-clearing crews are ready for a major winter storm.

Environment Canada predicted as much as 30 centimetres of snow could land on southern Manitoba, including Winnipeg.

“We’re going to get into winter in a very big way,” public works department spokesman Ken Allen said Monday.

“Crews are ready to get out there. They’re looking forward to doing what they do best, which is opening up the streets so the traffic can flow.”

Environment Canada forecast a “major winter storm” that was to start developing late Monday.

The storm is expected to bring 15 to 30 cm of snow and north winds gusting to 60 km/h. It’s expected to pass through today and into Wednesday.

By the weekend, the deep freeze will set in with wind chills in the -30 to -35 range. Visibility will be significantly reduced due to blowing snow for most of today and Wednesday.

After the warmest November on record, “it’s going to be a bit of a shock,” Environment Canada meteorologist Natalie Hasell said.

“It could be well below normal temperatures by the end of this week, starting on Thursday.”

Hasell said this type of weather is not unusual for December. The absence of winter conditions in November was unusual.

“There were comparisons all through November of the storm in 1986, the storm in ’93 and on and on. So having storms at this time of year is perfectly normal,” she said.

Allen said city snow-clearing procedures will start just as soon as the snow falls. City crews planned to send out as many as 40 sanding trucks Monday night and up to 450 pieces of equipment on a “continuous basis” throughout the snowfall.

The second line of defence will be to send out the truck plows after the snow has started to accumulate, Allen said. Main streets and bus routes will be cleared first.

“If it gets worse and the snow accumulates more than the capacity of the truck plows, that’s when we bring out the big motor graders and the front-end loaders,” Allen said.

Although November had mild weather, just $10 million of the $33-million snow-removal budget for 2016 remains, he said.

A storm such as this one could cost from $5 million to $6 million in removal costs, depending on the amount of snowfall.

“If we get a lot of snow overnight… no matter what we do, (Tuesday) morning is going to be messy,” he said.

“When the snow starts to accumulate, that means slowing down. So people need to allow additional travel time to get to work. You need to plan ahead and think about how you’re going to prepare yourself in the event that the storm is what is forecast.”

rebecca.dahl@freepress.mb.ca