Crews have been out all night clearing and treating the transportation network. As expected, snow began yesterday afternoon, and as of early this morning, the Ottawa Airport reported 5 centimetres had fallen with higher amounts in localized areas. But that was just the start; there is much more to come. The Significant Weather Event remains in effect as snow clearing and treating operations are taking longer than usual.
We know operations will be slow going today and residents are reminded to be patient and understand that it will be challenging to get around the city during this event and beyond.
Forecast and conditions
A Winter Storm Warning remains in effect for the Ottawa region. The heaviest snow is expected today with total snowfall accumulations of 20 to 30 centimetres possible and more in localized areas. When snowfall rates are at their peak, the snow will be accumulating quickly. The wind will be 40 kilometres per hour gusting to 60, causing blowing and drifting snow in open areas, particularly in the rural parts of that city.
Conditions will rapidly deteriorate this morning as the heaviest snow and blowing snow moves through the region. Travel will be hazardous and is not recommended. If you must be out, please exercise extreme caution when using the transportation network.
The Office of Emergency Management is in a state of “Monitoring” and ready to coordinate a Citywide response if deemed necessary. Given the extent of the impacts of this second storm and to increase coordination of efforts across all service areas, Public Works has activated its emergency command centre.
Our response
Supervisors will be monitoring the conditions of the transportation network throughout the day, into the evening and overnight. All resources have been deployed. Crews will continue to treat sidewalks, arterial roads, and the winter cycling network. The team will move into residential neighbourhoods this morning and will continue through the afternoon to treat and clear streets. The nightshift will pick up where the dayshift left off and work their way through the entire transportation network again.
Our sidewalk crews are out in full force and the team has switched to blowers to deal with high accumulation amounts and blowing snow. The use of blowers also requires a second pass to scrape the sidewalk clean after the blower has been through. As a result, it takes more time to clear the sidewalk network to the standard we typically maintain.
We know that we will not be meeting our winter maintenance timeline objectives and anticipate that multiple passes will be required to clear and treat conditions on the transportation network. Given the snowfall rate and the significant blowing and drifting snow, once a plow has passed, it will very quickly look like it hasn’t been there, but rest assured, crews are out in full force. As a reminder, we expect to be responding to this major winter weather event for several days as operations are taking longer than usual.
An extended winter weather parking ban is in effect
A Winter Weather Parking Ban is in effect until further notice. The extension to the standard winter weather parking ban is essential for the support of our operations. We will be monitoring the forecast and the conditions of the transportation network and will provide an update on when the parking ban will be lifted as this weather system tapers off this evening.
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.
Service impacts
For information about service impacts as it relates to today’s weather event, please visit Ottawa.ca
Resident support is required
- Conditions will be hazardous and non-essential travel should be avoided. For those who must travel, please give yourself extra time and adjust to the conditions of the transportation network.
- Flashing blue lights means we are hard at work. If you see a sidewalk plow approaching, please step aside into an open driveway. Always remember to stay at least 3 car lengths behind our vehicles – please never pass our vehicles.
- There is no need to create a service request for routine snow clearing. We are on the job and our efforts are currently needed out in the community; service requests should only be created for emergencies.
- Please help keep our streets clear and avoid shoveling snow onto the roadway, bike lanes, sidewalks, pathways and parks as it slows down our operations.
- With all that snow out there, it’s an exciting time to play, build snow forts and snowmen. It’s important children always do fun winter activities in the backyard and not on snowbanks along the road where our snowplow operators are working.
Next steps
Roads and Parking Services will continue to monitor this system and the transportation network over the next 24 hours and beyond. Conditions are making it very difficult to navigate, but rest assured, our operators working hard to stay ahead of this storm.
