When the dog needs a walk it doesn't matter about the weather. Man and man's best friend taking a walk in Strathcona Island Park on Friday morning in a snowstorm.--NEWS PHOTO GILLIAN SLADE
gslade@medicinehatnews.com@MHNGillianSlade
Fluffy white snow almost all day Friday saw city crews having to repeatedly sand roads and hills in particular.
“The hills are always an issue during events like this,” said operations engineer Craig Maunder.
A few vehicles going up Division Avenue to the Third Street intersection Friday morning simply could not make it to the top of the hill. They had to roll back and find another route.
Maunder says when snow continues to fall the grit put down on the road soon compacts and needs to be applied again.
“If we don’t put it down it becomes a slicker surface because that traction material isn’t embedded in the snow,” said Maunder.
Up to 10 cm of snow was forecasted for Friday and 60 per cent chance of flurries continuing on Saturday. The temperature highs are expected to drop slightly over the weekend with perhaps a reprieve from the extreme cold on Tuesday, according to Environment Canada.
The city already has a plan of action to address the snow on Friday night and over the weekend, said Maunder.
“We’re going to have a full complement of individuals out tomorrow (Saturday) that will be looking at plows, sand, sidewalks and such,” said Maunder.
The city’s snow budget runs on a calendar year so it is very early in the season, but during and after snowstorms scheduling of staff is carefully monitored to ensure they remain within safety limits for hours worked, said Maunder.
“When we get these snowstorm weekend after weekend it does challenge us,” said Maunder.
Dave Phillips, senior climatologist with Environment Canada, told the News earlier this week there would be more cold and snow for the rest of the month.
“The Chinooks are missing in action. Nothing can remove this bully of cold air that you’ve got,” he said.
If you want to find a brutal and persistently cold February like this one you have to look all the way back to 1936, said Phillips.
City crews are expected to commence snow removal operations throughout the city on Monday. This process will entail scraping the compacted snow and loading it on to trucks that dump it at one of the designated disposal sites.
The work will start about 10 p.m. Monday downtown and sections of Southridge Drive and Kingsway Avenue.
Where required, no-parking signs will be in place during the snow removal operations to allow crews to operate effectively.
Maunder appeals to the public to respond to those signs, which makes it much easier for crews to do their work and “less likelihood of conflict between parked vehicles and equipment.”
The schedule for snow removal is weather dependent. If it is still coming down, crews may be handling the snowfall and delay the snow collection, said Maunder.
