It’s been a day of digging out from a winter storm across the region, and snow squall advisories remain in place from Kingston to Prince Edward County.
“I went out and got a brush today, woke up and my whole car was covered in snow,” says local resident Taylor Rushforth.
For many Kingstonians, this morning meant waking up to school buses cancelled and an ongoing snow squall watch.
“I’m definitely going to have to get up earlier, get ready earlier, so I can get out and take time to get the snow off my car,” Rushforth says.
It’s an extra step in the morning routine that won’t be going anywhere anytime soon.
Environment Canada is forecasting snowfall accumulations of 15 to 30 cm by Sunday morning in the Kingston area, and 30 to 60 cm for Prince Edward County.
“We’ve had great weather in November up until this point, so normally when we get a good stretch of good weather later in the fall season, we pay the price going into December,” says City of Kingston Public Works Operations Manager Adam McDonald.
“So we were expecting to be active here.”
Kingston’s snow removal team consists of 37 road plows and 16 sidewalk units, some of which are contracted out, that cover 1,800 km and 650 km, respectively.
McDonald says the team of 90 to 100 staff members that run the 24/7 operation are motivated to get out and get started on what will be a “long four month operation.”
“We’ve luckily got a break in the weather here today to get cleaned up from last night’s event,” McDonald says. “And then we’ll start preparing. We’ll have salt delivered today to have our supplies fully stocked for the weekend.”
According to McDonald, the best way Kingstonians can support city staff working to clear the roads is by refraining from street parking when possible — especially on residential roads.
While winter parking restrictions don’t begin until Dec. 1, having roads clear of cars will make the process quicker and easier.