Snowfall Warning in Effect
Monday, January 16, 2017 @ 7:36 AM
Prince George, B.C.- Another burst of winter is on the way.
Environment Canada has issued a snowfall warning for Prince George and Quesnel.
Theres’s a 40 per cent chance of flurries today with snow mixed with snow pellets beginning late this afternoon.
Ten centimetres is expected with temperatures steady near zero and wind gusts up to 50 kilometres per hour today and 40 tonight.
The snow is expected to be replaced by rain tomorrow with highs to four degrees.
Comments
Snow blowers won’t be much use if we get to the projected +4 on Tuesday.
If we do get the projected snowfall I’m interested to see how many of the resident whiners will start whining that the city isn’t out fast enough for them to start clearing the roads
Good vehicle, good tires and safe driving will get you further than whining
City has been doing an awesome job lately..
Do you think that might have something to do with the limited amount of snow we have had?
Wait for a good old fashioned two or three day storm dropping a foot or two and then decide if they are measuring up.
@ Sparrow..They have even been doing exceptionally well in the past couple years even when we had big snowfalls..
You obviously have never experienced “exceptionally well”.
You obviously have never experienced “exceptionally well”.
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LOL! I missed the cutoff the last time the snow removal discussion came up, so I’ll say now what I was going to say then.
The first year I moved here, I actually wrote an e-mail to my ward councillor complementing the city on the snow removal. I thought a city in northern BC would have a good handle on how to do it, but I was wrong. I had never seen anything like how they do it here.
Everything from pre-treating roads before the storm, to having the trucks literally waiting on the side of the highway so that they could start removing snow as it fell, to seeing 4-6 trucks stacked abreast to each other clearing the highway (followed by salt trucks), to having my residential street consistently cleared within half a day of a major snowfall, to having sidewalks cleared, to having snowbanks physically cut down and removed a couple of times a year to ensure proper visibility for drivers, etc. The snow management out here is simply far superior to anything done out west. It’s really no comparison.
I think there are a number of key reasons:
– Better preparation
– Active snow clearing taking place WHILE the snow is falling and not stopping until the snow stops (helps to avoid snow buildups that cause havoc)
– The type and quantity of equipment that is out on the road can actually keep up with demand (private contractors are also actively used here to compliment city crews)
– No clearing of driveways!!!!! It’s such a time waster. Yes it’s nice luxury, but it completely handicaps the ability of crews to get around to actually clearing streets.
I’ve come to the conclusion that PG is either just stubborn when it comes to wanting to manage snow more effectively, or they simply can’t/won’t invest the money that is needed and they refuse to admit it.
I think that one major difference between PG and Ottawa is that here pre-treating the roads with salt or other material would do no good because the temperature is too low for it to be effective. I have not been to Ottawa but the snow in TO seemed a lot wetter more like they get in Vancouver.
The way the city clears snow now it is almost a necessity to have a loader clear the driveways as it is big lumps of packed snow and ice that I would not even attempt to move with a snow shovel or a snow blow…..pick and spade would be more fitting.
When we first moved to this house a plow truck would come by and clear the road, often multiple times in a storm, and did not worry about the driveways. No biggy as it was easy to move. Now with the focus on graders we do not get the street cleared till up to a week after the last flake has fallen.
The city has not changed the method in the way they clear the streets since snowmageddon a few years ago and if similar back to back storms hit today we would be no better off than we were then. They did bring in some consultant to justify spending millions on new equipment when there was not one shread of evidence that breakdowns were the cause of the mess the roads were in. Putting more graders on retainer was another “solution”
Plain and simple that plow trucks be they front or belly mounted can clear far more miles of roads in a shift than slow moving graders that are much more suited to do the clean up and widening between snowfalls.
Heaven help us if we get a year when it is recommended that we shovel our roofs and they are advertising for people to clear the roof of the Pine Center.
I think that one major difference between PG and Ottawa is that here pre-treating the roads with salt or other material would do no good because the temperature is too low for it to be effective. I have not been to Ottawa but the snow in TO seemed a lot wetter more like they get in Vancouver
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The climate here is actually not that far off of PG to be honest, although it is a shorter winter season I would say. On average, it’s quite a bit colder here than Toronto, but we still get hit with squalls and lake effect snow like they do along the Great Lakes. We can see some ridiculous accumulations in a relatively short period of time.
On average, I think we get more snow and definitely more ice and freezing rain here than PG (and I’d say the snow is definitely heavier), but you guys would get colder cold snaps. That said, there are still lots of days here where the temps are in the negative teens and minus twenties. That’s well within the typical PG temps of recent winters. They seem to use the salt out here anywhere down to about -20 or so, and it works. Heck, I drive through puddles when it’s -15 outside they use so much of it, LOL. Anything colder than -20 and they seem to use more of an aggregate to help with traction, BUT the plows still continue the same way. Also haven’t had a rock chip in my windshield in 5 years . . .
I would agree with you that if the city is not clearing roads as often, then yes, the stuff left at the driveway would be a bigger pain in the butt to move. I remember growing up in PG having to clear the end of the driveway as a winter chore, but that was also in the days when you seemed to see plow trucks more often.
I hope someone reminds me to clear my windows….
Clear your windows!
Good, I need some exercise.
Remember to clear the snow from the roof of your car. If you don’t its classed as an unsecure load and applicable tickets are issued!
Tickets are issued? When did this miracle happen?
ya got to love global warming
For those of us that are long in the tooth here is some food for thought. Back before metric 10 cm of snow was approx. 4″. So we have a snowfall warning issued today for up to 10 cm of snow. I don’t know if I will survive that much snow. -27C like we had last week comes in at -16F and a 20KMP wind checks in at 12.5MPH. It’s amazing that I made it through my childhood on the prairies. I suggest that a sever BS warning be issued for the weather office and the media.
Where’s my snow?
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