Vernon city crews dealing with the snow melt

Photo: Contributed

The cold stretch and substantial snowfall that have hit Vernon over the past couple of weeks seem to be over. Now it is time to deal with the aftermath. City crews are preparing to carry out their next steps to clear the snow and slush from the roads in the area.

"Now that the extreme cold snap has ended, snow is starting to melt across the city," says Christy Poirier, manager of Communications and Grants. "Environment Canada is forecasting temperatures above zero for the next few days, which means areas that were covered with compact snow are now starting to face slushy conditions."

The roads being cleared will be ranked on a priority basis, starting with the main streets, and with the residential roads and cul-de-sacs to follow.

"In some areas, such as the downtown core, motorists may notice snow is being plowed into the centre of the road. This is done to remove snow and slush from the gutters and to improve parking in the core," said Chris Ovens, manager of Roads, Drainage and Airport. "We will be monitoring these areas and if the warmer weather doesn’t melt the snow in a timely manner, we will work on removing it."

Snow is plowed to the side of the road and stored instead of being hauled away, which receives lots of attention from Vernon residents. The reason the snow is not hauled away is because the cost of removing snow is very high and it would take a significant hit on the City's operating budget.