The forecast promised one of Kingston’s biggest snowstorms of the season, and mother nature certainly delivered, with the city of Kingston dealing with upwards of 20 centimetres of snow, leading to lengthy commutes Wednesday evening into Thursday morning.
The city’s 37 road plows and 16 sidewalk plows were dispatched Wednesday, working tirelessly to clear over 1800 kilometres of roadways.
Major artery roads are cleared first, followed by collector and transit routes, and then residential.
Strong winds were also felt all around the city and in somewhat of a rare occurrence, there was a little thunder mixed in with the snow
Despite the city’s overnight parking ban being in effect, multiple vehicles parked on city streets and got plowed in Thursday morning as a result.
Residents who ignore the city’s ban on overnight street parking are at risk of getting their vehicle towed plus a parking ticket.
“We want to get things cleaned up to the curb, so we don’t have to come back and have to do it again,” said Troy Stubinski, Public Works operations manager.
“So that parking ban is really important — especially in some of those tight residential areas, where even without the parking, it’s tight. If we’re able to eliminate that parking, it makes things a lot safer for our operators.”
Due to the weather, busses for the public, catholic, and French school boards were cancelled Thursday morning but schools remain open.
The storm continues a trend this winter season of all the snowfall coming at once, as opposed to over the span of multiple days.
“Typically, we see these Alberta clippers,” said Global News meteorologist Anthony Farnell.
“Those are the storms that originate in Alberta. They’re fast-moving. They generally follow the arctic cold front, so we see that light, fluffier snow. Those are the storms that are lacking so far this year. We haven’t had those 5 cm amounts, because we haven’t had the Alberta clippers.”