Watch above: Weather in the northern states and in eastern Canada has crippled some cities and halted certain modes of transportation. Aaron Streck wonders if the same happened in Saskatoon, would the city be forced to shut down?
SASKATOON – The east coast has been pummelled this winter with some places receiving three blasts of snow in the last week. Saskatoon has had a few snow falls this winter but nothing like Jan. 10, 2007; that blizzard didn’t shut down the city but brought it to a crawl.
“We always used to smile at Toronto, you have a snow storm call in the military, we don’t do that anymore, we take it seriously after 2007, people did get stuck in streets, people did spend time at Costco when they would rather be home,” said Ray Unrau, the City of Saskatoon’s emergency planning director .
The storm brought record breaking snowfall and is considered to be one of the worst in Saskatchewan history.
“Would we ever shut down, I don’t know if we would but we have the tool in place to understand what the impact will be before the impact occurs,” said Unrau.
While the ’07 blizzard impacted thousands of people, recent extreme weather out east has affected millions. Last week, New York City and Boston were shut down. Tuesday, Saint John New Brunswick declared a state of emergency receiving another 29 centimetre dump over night.
READ MORE: Moncton matches snow record set in 1992
“What we had before 2007 was an emergency plan that was like a light switch it was either on or it was off. What we realized since then, we need to have an emergency plan that’s not just responsive to an obvious emergency but responsive to peoples needs,” said Unrau.
The average snowfall in Saskatoon is close to 100 centimetres during the winter. The ’07 blizzard forced planes to be grounded and the John G. Diefenbaker International Airport had to close for several hours, the only time that has happened in recent memory.
“We revise our snow plan every year from lessons learned from previous years, lessons that happen at other airports as well are brought into that picture so we’re constantly making sure that we can maintain a safe operation here at YXE for the public’s travel,” said Andrew Leeming, the operational excellence vice-president with the Saskatoon Airport Authority .
Saskatoon hasn’t had to call in the military. 07’s storm of the century, was just that. Saskatoon’s real winter issues are the cold spells topping minus 50 with the wind chill, something people south of the border likely couldn’t even fathom.
While schools rarely close due to severe weather, extreme cold temperatures will force bus route cancellations.
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