Within a six-day span, the City of Saskatoon received in excess of 55 centimetres of snow, including more than 35 centimetres over last weekend.

Priority street grading is done, which the City says in a news release, far outpaces the 96 hour timeline identified in the Roadways Emergency Response Plan. Snow grading in residential neighbourhoods and industrial areas is underway ahead of scheduled and is expected to take up to six days. Click here for the most recent list of the neighbourhoods scheduled, which the city says is constantly being updated as the progress on grading is assessed.

Snow piles in residential neighbourhoods will be left to melt but they will be moved from the Priority 1 streets. That is expected to begin next Monday and should be a two-week process.

From the City’s news release:

What you need to know about the local street grading program:  

• We use an ‘outside- in’ and ‘inside- out’ approach to scheduling street snow grading due to the higher impact in these core and outlying neighbourhoods. We also do our best to schedule around collections to avoid conflicts. Outlying areas are often impacted by drifting snow and wind. Core areas are often higher density, are designed differently than newer areas with less room to park and to put snow.

• The main priority with this program is to make all streets accessible. Snow will be graded and then piled in nearby parking lanes, boulevards, and medians. The City understands the piles restrict parking and cause visibility concerns. Please proceed around the snow piles with caution and do not let children play on them or dig into them as they are dangerous.

• If it is possible, residents are encouraged to move vehicles parked on the street prior to grading crews arriving. The City recognizes some vehicles are stuck, therefore vehicles left parked on the street will not be ticketed or towed. The equipment will work around vehicles that are not moved off the street. Residents are encouraged to dig their cars out, asking for help from the community if needed.

• Parking restriction signage will not be posted in advance of grading in all neighbourhoods, with the exception of some streets that are too narrow for equipment to get down. Vehicles will be towed to the closest available parking and residents will be encouraged to check the ‘Find My Vehicle’ app.

• Residents are encouraged to notify friends, family and neighbours that schedules will be available and updated at saskatoon.ca/snow.
• For those living in apartments, leaving space for parking lanes won’t always be possible with this much snow, as our priority is improving mobility in the street.
• We do what we can to keep sidewalks clear, but this amount of snow can make that difficult after clearing driving lanes. Please do not to push or blow snow into the street (Bylaw No. 8463 The Sidewalk Clearing Bylaw, 2005) as it makes grading more difficult and creates a greater risk for vehicles to get stuck. There are some sidewalks that are maintained by the city that as part of Phase 4 to improve mobility of active transportation, these are underway but will take some time to complete.
• The City’s Customer Care Centre continues to experience a high volume of calls. Please visit saskatoon.ca/snow to find the latest information and help answer many of your questions.