It’s shaping up to be a winter season of steady snow and underperforming storms here in Ottawa—we’re consistently landing at the lower end of snowfall forecasts. But that’s okay—we’ll take it! The Roads and Parking Services team always performs well and has been up all night clearing and treating the transportation network. The Ottawa Airport has reported approximately 10 centimetres of snowfall, with higher amounts in localized areas, and more snow is on the way.
Forecast and conditions
Periods of snow of snow are expected to continue through the day Jan. 26 with another 5 centimetres possible. Northeasterly winds at 20 kilometres per hour will diminish and become light this morning. The daytime high is forecast at minus 12, with a wind chill of minus 18 this afternoon. Snow will taper off to flurries and may linger into the evening. The cold temperatures remain, with an overnight low of minus 21 and a wind chill of minus 28.
Residents are reminded to allow extra time and travel with caution as the transportation network is snow covered.
Our response
Supervisors will continue to monitor the conditions of the transportation network throughout the day. The team has been working nonstop all night, and the dayshift has picked up right where the nightshift left off. Crews will continue work on sidewalks, priority roads and winter cycling network throughout the day and evening. Work began this morning in residential neighbourhoods to clear and treat streets and will continue into the evening. The night shift will be back in tonight and work overnight to clean up the transportation network and any problem areas such as bus stops, crosswalks, intersections, pedestrian islands, corners and cul de sacs.
Cold temperatures and blowing snow continue to challenge the team, slowing operations down. Rest assured, crews are hard at work and will continue throughout the day and overnight.
Snow removal operations will resume! Once the team completes their cleanup activities, crews will resume select snow removal operations across the city. The focus remains on urban residential streets and select arterial and collector roads throughout the city, followed by Business Improvement Areas, business districts and bike lanes where snowbanks have significantly increased and restricted the travel lanes. Be on the lookout for ‘No Parking’ signs—this includes vehicles with residential parking permits. Failing to do so may result in vehicles being towed. Towed vehicles are relocated to an adjacent street where snow removal is not scheduled that day or has already been completed.
A daytime parking ban is in effect
A Winter Weather Parking Ban is in effect until 7 pm tonight. When vehicles are removed from our streets, the Roads and Parking Services team can clear snow efficiently to create a wide-open roadway.
During this time, all vehicles must be removed from the roadway - unless you have an eligible parking permit or are accessing parking in our exempted commercial main streets. Though eligible parking permit holders are exempt, we encourage those who can, please try to find alternate parking during this time to prevent your vehicle from being snowed in. The City of Ottawa has several parking lots available for residents to park during a parking ban. Vehicles may remain parked at these sites for the duration of the ban and must be removed after the City announces that the ban has been lifted. Information on all parking options during a winter weather parking ban is available on Ottawa.ca/winterparking.
Residents can stay in the know about our winter weather parking bans by signing up for e-alerts at Ottawa.ca, or by downloading the City of Ottawa app.
Next steps
Roads and Parking Services will continue to monitor the transportation network over the next 24 hours and will deploy resources as needed to ensure the transportation network is in good condition.
As the system moves out of the region today, this will serve as the final operational update for this winter event. Looking ahead to the rest of the week, the forecast is stable and should that change, an update will be provided.
