Half the city’s snow has been cleared, but smog remains
As of Tuesday evening, Montreal had cleared nearly half the snow that’s accumulated in the city since Saturday.
The city launched the season’s fourth citywide snow removal operation on Sunday evening. As of 9 p.m. Tuesday, 49 per cent of Montreal streets had been cleared.
But some of the city’s 19 boroughs remained well below the city-wide average.
Côte-des-Neiges—Notre-Damede-Grâce, the city’s largest borough, had cleared only 32 per cent of its streets.
Ahuntsic-Cartierville also fell below the average, at 39 per cent.
St-Léonard led all boroughs with 69 per cent of its streets cleared, with Anjou trailing closely behind with 66 per cent. The city has said it could take more than five days before all streets and sidewalks are cleared, because crews had not finished removing snow from the previous storm in some boroughs.
A smog warning issued by Environment Canada early Tuesday remained in effect come the end of the day, saying air quality would be low until at least midday Wednesday. It urged people to leave their cars at home, or at least to drive more slowly and not idle unnecessarily.
It’s also important to limit the use of wood-burning stoves and fireplaces — in Montreal, it’s illegal to use your fireplace during a smog warning.