Wednesday, February 04, 2009

Warmer weather ahead

Clearing streets in Lasalle yesterday. It was a deadly day in the city with three deaths caused by dump trucks.

Montreal just finished a month where the mercury only rose above zero once (1.5C) and over 71cm of snow fell. Kemptville was no better with one dayover 0C as well (0.7) and over 45cm of snow. Montreal currently has more than 33cm of snow on the ground at Dorval with much more in the surrounding suburbs. It has been a cold, damp and raw winter so far, no better than last year. We are in for a little bit of a break this week across Ontario and Quebec. The big storm that threatened us Tuesday passed well to our east hitting Nova Scotia yesterday. We can expect a cold day today and Thursday before an appreciable warming trend into the weekend. It should rise above freezing to 5C on Saturday and Sunday before we cool off next week. With the exception of a little freezing rain or showers Saturday we look storm free for the moment.

Montreal has over 4100km of roads and 6500km of sidewalks to clear after each snowstorm. it is a monumental task involving hundreds of employees and pieces of equipment. They often work very long hours. In the past two days snow clearing crews have been involved in three major accidents resulting in three pedestrians being killed and 1 motorist injured. Just a reminder, give these crews the space they need, they are often under pressure to get the job done.

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