Motor vehicles moved out of way of snowplows

City tows cars, trucks short distance to enforce ban on street parking in some neighbourhoods during heavy snowfall

Some residents of high-elevation Kelowna neighbourhoods had to hunt around for their cars after heavy Christmas-week snowfalls.

City crews were enforcing a noparking edict in communities such as Dilworth, the Ponds and Wilden by removing vehicles from the streets.

But rather than tow the cars and trucks to distant lots, from which retrieval would be costly and annoying for the owners, the vehicles were simply shunted out of the way of plows.

“We did have to move some vehicles a short distance, but nobody was towed out of the neighbourhoods and nobody got a ticket, to my knowledge,” roadways supervisor Stephen Bryans said Tuesday.

As well, the shifting of the plow blocking vehicles was undertaken only after city bylaw officials had knocked on doors, unsuccessfully trying to locate the owners of the offending cars and trucks.

Those who were at home when the bylaw officers came calling were happy to move their vehicle on their own, Bryans said, describing overall compliance with the snow route designations as good.

Because snowfall accumulations can be much deeper at higher elevations, the city instituted the snow route system in 2015.

When activated, it requires residents of specific neighbourhoods to get their vehicles off the street or face tickets of $50 and the possible towing of the car or truck.

A persistent high-pressure ridge over much of Western Canada provided dry and above-normal temperatures for Kelowna until Dec. 19, Environment Canada meteorologist Lisa West said.

“After that, we had an outflow of Arctic air that has lasted through Christmas,” West said.

The mean temperature for December — an average of daytime highs and overnight lows — was -3.2 C, compared to the average of -2.6 C.

A total of 42.6 millimetres of precipitation fell on Kelowna, most in the form of snow, compared to the normal average of 32.6 mm for the month.

Looking ahead, the Arctic air will slowly be dislodged this week by a series of relatively warmer lowpressure systems from the Pacific Ocean, with highs at or slightly above freezing by the weekend, along with a chance of flurries.