Driving in Prince George is still a bit of a nightmare after a three-day storm that dumped up to 60 centimetres of snow on the city.
Consider yourself lucky if you were able to get through a residential street to connect to main road that’s been ploughed, some motorists trying to make the morning commute Thursday were not so fortunate.
“We’re doing fine, it’s just trying to get people to understand that 43 or 44 centimetres of snow in the bowl that just stopped this morning at 3:30, it takes a bit to clean that up,” said Jordan Wiseman, the city manager of roads and fleets.
“The windrows are massive and it’s taking the guys and gals longer to stack those windrows in the middle (of major streets) because there’s so much snow and we have nowhere to put the snow.”
He said there’s a bit of race against time trying to get the snow removed with warmer weather and rain in the forecast, which could create problems if storm drains are blocked.
“Mother Nature is playing a bit of dirty hand to us this time,” Wiseman said.
Snow amounts from the storm varied from about 40 cm in the Bowl part of the city to 60 cm in outlying areas and higher elevations such as the Hart Highway region. The snow started just before noon on Tuesday morning and continued pretty much uninterrupted until early Thursday morning.
The city issues a heavy-snow declaration whenever 20 centimetres of snow or more falls on the city over a 24-hour period. An extra 24 hours is added to the snow-clearing effort for every eight centimetres of snow the city receives beyond the threshold. Any time those thresholds are reached the city calls in heavy-equipment contractors and they will continue to assist city crews in the clean-up operation for the next couple days.
“Since the snow started we have been working on (Priority 1 routes) and having to go back but now that the snow has stopped and it doesn’t look like there’s any significant accumulations so we are moving into residential areas,” said Wiseman.
“We have roughly 36 units on the streets right now, both city forces and contractors. All available resources are deployed.”
The City of Prince George website map shows how roads are prioritized for snow ploughing.
Prior to this, the last time the city had heavy snow to deal with from one storm was on Dec. 21-22, 2021, when 35 cm fell in one 24-hour period.
There’s a 70 per cent chance of rain or wet flurries tonight, with above-freezing temperatures predicted through the night, and a similar forecast is in store for the city on Friday, with a high of 3 C expected.
Above-average temperatures are predicted for Sunday-Wednesday with no more snow, but Wiseman says that could easily change before the end of the month.
“February has a tendency to beat up on us a bit so this didn’t really come as a surprise and we were ready for it,’ he said. “Now crews are able to get in and actually make a difference. Going back over the Priority 1s and 2s does slow us down a bit and residential does take a bit of back seat.
“We should have some reprieve by Saturday or Sunday and people should start noticing things are a lot more open and traversable.”
Once the snow has been removed, Wiseman said the city will turn its attention to trouble spots and trying to break up the icy layer on many residential streets that is making those roads so treacherous. The warmer weather will allow use of rock salt, salt brine and calcium to help melt the exposed ice and graders with ice blades will also be used.
The city is dumping less sand in the bowl area due to problems with particulate matter getting into the airshed and rock fracture is the traction material of choice except on treat slippery sections and intersections on cold days, where sand is still being used.
