Late winter storm delivers 30 centimetres of snow
Intense though short-lived system also brought thunder and lightning to parts of Niagara
PLOW OPERATORS across Niagara went to work early Friday morning to get a jump on clearing city and regional streets as up 30 centimetres of snow fell during a late winter storm.
Welland, Port Colborne, Pelham, St. Catharines and Niagara Falls all issued winter control activity notices on their websites, advising residents of when plowing operations were to begin.
All the municipalities also asked residents not to park on city streets and a bylaw officer was seen travelling the city streets in Port Colborne and responding to requests of the plow crews to ticket vehicles preventing them from plowing.
On its website, the Town of Pelham said the depth and weight of the snow were hampering its efforts in clearing roads and sidewalks.
It also said a number of trees fell because of the weather and staff were deployed to clear them, and that could have caused a short delay in clearing some streets.
“We ask for patience and care on the road while we take care of the snow and remind people not to park on the street until the snow is cleared. Also due to the nature of this storm, please expect some delay in the clearing of sidewalks,” the town said.
A number of municipalities, such as Wainfleet and Port Colborne, closed their offices and cancelled activities at city venues due to the weather.
High winds combined with heavy snow throughout the night saw power outages in various municipalities.
Tree limbs falling on hydro lines were blamed. Power was restored as hydro crews worked in the sometimes blizzard-like conditions.
The storm, which produced lightning as it moved through the region, saw Niagara’s three school boards close all schools and bus service was cancelled as well.
Niagara College shutdown for the day, while Brock University cancelled classes before 10 a.m., but reopened after sidewalks, roadways and parking lots were cleared.
Niagara Regional Police media relations specialist Stephanie Sabourin didn’t have an exact number but said police responded to numerous minor collisions across the region that kept officers busy responding to calls overnight and into Friday morning.
“We try to remind the public that if there is a minor collision without serious injuries and their car is drivable – to report to a collision reporting centre in the region rather than calling 911. That frees up the officers to respond to priority calls,” Sabourin said.
Those centres are located at the St. Catharines, Welland and Niagara Falls detachments.
As for officers on the roads during the snowstorm, Sabourin said they drive according to the conditions and respond to calls no matter how severe the weather gets.
CAA Niagara public relations specialists Alex Pedersen said from midnight to noon Friday the agency had 200 calls for service.
“That’s 60 per cent more than we usually get in that time,” she said.
Calls included people getting stuck or hitting curbs due to the heavy snowfall.
“As of noon today (Friday) our call volume was back to normal.”