Snow hits, digging out begins

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 05/04/2023 (929 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Some Winnipeggers rolled the dice and bet they could change their winter tires now because there would be no more dumps of snow.

We all know they lost.

Environment and Climate Change Canada said about 15 centimetres of white stuff had fallen in Winnipeg by noon Wednesday. An army of plows worked in the city and across the province to clear the snow, even in dangerous conditions brought on by high winds.

The Colorado low started hitting the province on Tuesday night and before it leaves Thursday it was expected to drop another 10 cm of snow.

David Phillips, senior climatologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, said forecasters predicted the storm with almost perfect precision.

”It was bang on,” Phillips said. “It was almost like the storm was scripted.

“I said it would start snowing around 10 Tuesday night, with winds at 30 gusting up to 50 km per hour, and the southeast would get the most snow, 20 to 25 cm, the Red River Valley 10 to 15, and Winnipeg 15 t0 20. When you look at the storm, it started early at nine o’clock on Tuesday night, so an hour ahead, and, after four hours of snow on Tuesday and 14 on Wednesday, 15 cm of snow had fallen.

“The storm has performed as advertised.”

City of Winnipeg spokesman Ken Allen said about 200 pieces of equipment, including truck plows and front-end loaders, were busy Wednesday clearing streets, sidewalks and bicycle paths.

Allen said truck plows were out on Priority One regional streets, including Portage Avenue and Pembina Highway, and once those were done, they would tackle the regional two streets, including include bus routes and collector streets.

“It is a major plowing operation,” he said. “It really is going well.”

Allen said sidewalks along Priority One streets are also being cleared and equipment is also going down back lanes.

He said the city is monitoring the storm and the accompanying snowfall, but as of mid-afternoon on Wednesday it wasn’t believed residential streets would need to be plowed.

Allen also said the city doens’t believe it would have to enact any parking bans. The overnight parking ban on snow routes ended on March 17.

Derek Trainer, manager of the 511 Operations Centre, said several highways across the province were closed because of blowing snow.

At the storm’s peak, with snow being blown by high winds, eight highways, including Highway 16 from Minnedosa to Neepawa, were closed, while several school divisions from the international border to the Interlake were shuttered for the day.

RRC Polytech said while its Winnipeg campuses are open today, its classrooms in Selkirk, Steinbach and Winkler are closed, with only “online delivery.”

Kristian Zoppa, owner of Cleanr, a local snow removal and lawn care service, said his crews were busy clearing out both commercial and residential properties.

“It’s going good,” said Zoppa during a quick stop. “With commercial, we’re basically running everything as normal, but with residential, only about 40 to 45 per cent say they want it done.

“Most residential are just letting it go because they figure it will be gone soon. Commercial customers can’t do that. They need their parking lots cleared.”

Zoppa said while they will soon be working on lawns instead of snow, he said they had not started the process of cleaning and storing their winter equipment yet.

“Most residential are just letting it go because they figure it will be gone soon. Commercial customers can’t do that. They need their parking lots cleared.”–Kristian Zoppa

“We don’t start taking it down until about mid-April. It is Manitoba.”

As for the switch to summer tires, shops were inundated Wednesday with vehicle owners asking to reschedule their appointments.

“A lot of people held off changing their tires, but we had a few before this,” said Kevin Kaniuga, owner of the Fountain Tire outlet at Jubilee Avenue and Pembina Highway.

“Others are calling to postpone and push back their appointments. We are booking now for mid- to late April. For the ones who changed their tires, if you don’t need to go out, stay home until the streets are plowed. But people also need to go to work. So, take your time.”

While forecasters said their predictions were on the mark, that’s not always the case. Last April, they warned about an oncoming storm packing up to 60 centimetres of snow for Winnipeg, which caused many businesses to pre-emptively decide to close early. Even the Winnipeg Jets postponed a game against the Seattle Kraken and moved it to May 1.

In the end, only 20 cm fell and many criticized forecasters for the weather equivalent of crying wolf.

But Phillips said weather forecasting can never be 100 per cent accurate.

“Weather is that way,” he said. “You’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t.

“If it performs as is, no one says anything. No one says good job. It can be just as annoying to have it under the amount of snow when you’ve cancelled an event.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca