Crews clear downtown sidewalks of snow as a cold snap in Medicine Hat continued Wednesday afternoon.--News Photo Collin Gallant
https://www.medicinehatnews.com@MedicineHatNews
City officials are reporting few significant problems despite extremely cold conditions this week in Medicine Hat, but say there are still challenges to keeping roads in passable shape and utility systems working.
“We’ve operated well considering the cold,” said Boyd Mostoway, operators manager with Medicine Hat Power and Water. “There haven’t been any upsets inside the City of Medicine Hat.”
Calls for utility service problems have been typical, he added, though temperatures that fell well below minus-30C early in the week are hard on workers.
In terms of the city’s power plant, it has operated at near capacity production this week and has met city demand plus sent surplus power to the Alberta grid.
Provincial power demand peaked near all-time winter season highs near the dinner hour over the past several days.
That’s led to high prices, during which the city had exported excess production, including during an extended high-price period on Dec. 27 – and a general call for Albertans to reduce usage – which lasted into the early morning hours the next day.
“We’ve ran really well through that period,” said Mostoway. “The high demand in the cold put a strain on the provincial system. But we all chipped in.”
The city’s municipal works department, now known as city surface assets, has kept up with plowing after several inch-high snow falls hit the city since Christmas.
Aside from one broken-down grader, there hasn’t been an equipment failure.
“We’ve been out every day dealing with snow and packed ice,” said Jeremy Petryschyn, the operations manager in the department. “We’ve plowed several times and are now sanding for traction control.”
Temperatures are expected to hover in the minus-20C range until the weekend, when an expected warm-up could see the mercury climb to the freezing point on Sunday.
