News Releases

Environment and Climate Change Canada is forecasting a significant snowfall and high winds for Saskatoon starting Tuesday. Rain is expected to start this evening, which may result in slippery sidewalks as people head to work. City crews will be applying salt to keep freeways, intersections, on/off ramps and bridge decks from freezing.

“Fortunately, we are not staring down a storm like we experienced last year,” says Goran Saric, Director of Roadways, Fleet and Support. “However, there will still be lots of snow and strong winds which will create challenging driving conditions on Tuesday and into Wednesday. 

“Our crews are ready and will be out to keep the roads clear for emergency vehicles and Saskatoon Transit, but we’re asking everyone to consider delaying non-essential trips outside of Saskatoon. If you need to travel, make sure you have a vehicle emergency kit and charged cell phone."

As the snow begins in Saskatoon Tuesday, City crews and equipment will plow Circle Drive and on/off ramps until the snow stops. Reduced visibility on Saskatoon streets may occur during the day Tuesday with combination of snow falling and wind up to 80 km/h into the evening.

Emergency Management Organization Director Pamela Goulden-McLeod says the Cold Weather Strategy for Saskatoon’s vulnerable is activated with warming shelters open for those who need them.

“Using a whole-community approach to emergency management there are over twenty organizations involved with the Cold Weather Strategy. These organizations, under the leadership of the Saskatoon Housing Initiatives Partnership, work to make sure that individuals and families experiencing or at risk-of homelessness are aware of safe available sleeping options and warming locations."

Goulden-McLeod also reminds all residents and businesses that we each have a role to play in emergency planning and review winter storm planning to make sure they are prepared when it happens.  

High winds could create disruption in electrical service. Trees can sometimes contact with above-ground power lines causing breaks or downed lines.

“If a tree falls onto a line stay at least 10 metres or three car lengths away from it and stay away from other equipment that comes into contact with the line,” says Trevor Bell, Director of Saskatoon Light & Power. “If the line is on the ground, call 9-1-1 immediately and stay back.”

Ten to 15 cm of snow is expected, and a Snow Event will be declared once the snow stops. Contractor graders will join the City fleet in the priority street cleanup on freeways, arterial and collector streets, storing snow on medians, boulevards and in parking lanes. Specialized crews will clear City facility sidewalks, Meewasin Trail, park pathways with street lighting and bridge/overpass walkways at the same time. Given the forecast, it is very unlikely that the new Roadways Emergency Response Plan (PDF) will be triggered for this snow event. Activating the plan would be considered after a blizzard with snow accumulations of at least 25 centimetres and mobility reduced to the point light vehicles cannot drive on city streets, to add extra staffing and contractor resources for city-wide grading and snow removal.

Learn more about the City’s priority street grading plan at saskatoon.ca/snow. Look-up your address on the Street Grading Priority Streets map to see if snow grading happens on your street after a snow event. For Saskatoon Ligh & Power customers, refer to the new interactive power outage map if you experience an issue. 

Saskatoon continues to dig out from last weekend’s severe winter storm.  Currently nearly 300 road crew individuals are working on the snow removal effort, with progress continuing day and night.  
 
“Our efforts in residential neighbourhoods have been around the clock. Progress is better than anticipated, and many neighbourhoods have been bumped up in the schedule. Should this pace continue, we’re estimating to move through the residential neighbourhood schedule  sooner than the originally planned date of Friday this week,” says Terry Schmidt, General Manager of Transportation and Construction. “Because of this we urge everyone to check our online schedule often for the latest updates.” 
 
The priority is to send snow removal crews to as many residential neighbourhoods as quickly as possible. This will mean that there may be impacts on parking availability in the neighbourhoods when the snow clearing is completed. Residents are not required to move their vehicle but, if able, crews will appreciate more space to complete the work and the ability to clear streets more fully.  After the initial pass through a neighbourhood, piles of snow may be left in places that interfere with someone's ability to pull in and out of their driveway or another inconvenient situation. These situations have been identified and crews have started returning to those locations for clean-up work. After clearing has been completed in all neighborhoods city-wide, crews will return to streets for additional clean-up work.
  

It is anticipated by the end of this evening snow removal crews will have passed through 48 residential areas, or 75 per cent of the City. 

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who is working day and night, sacrificing time away from friends and family to get the city moving again,” says Schmidt. “And once again thank you to the people of Saskatoon, for helping your neighbours, remaining patient during the city-wide snow clean-up, and for staying safe around the snow removal equipment on our streets as we try and restore our roadways as best as possible to how they were before this massive storm.” 

Please do not push snow out onto the street when clearing snow from sidewalks and driveways, as this can clog up streets with even more snow and continue to create accessibility issues. 
 

The massive effort to get Saskatoon moving again following a severe blizzard continues, with great progress being made despite fresh snow and more drifting. Since Wednesday, November 11th, 25 per cent of residential streets have been cleared of snow with improved mobility for residents continuing to be a priority.  

“We are continuing to work to improve mobility for as many residents as possible, as quickly as possible”, says Terry Schmidt, General Manager of Transportation and Construction. “Great progress continues to be made, and in fact we are ahead of schedule in some neighbourhoods as we continue to bring in contractors to assist us. Although much work has been accomplished, we know much work still needs to be done.”   

As of Saturday morning, the City reports mobility has been restored in 15 neighbourhoods: Kensington, Stonebridge, Hampton, Brighton, Montgomery, Rosewood, Eastview, Arbor Creek, Dundonald, Holiday Park, Mayfair, Erindale, Buena Vista, Lakeridge and Silverspring. Progress has been made in six additional neighbourhoods including Silverwood, Evergreen, Wildwood, Nutana, King George and Willowgrove.  

Schmidt encouraged residents to continue to check the online schedule as updates are made frequently and the schedule at times is advanced with more contractor capacity added.  

“We are seeing significant progress every day and it is very inspiring to see over 300 people working long shifts away from their friends and family – and fellow Saskatoon citizens that are doing everything they can to help get this cleaned up,” says Jeff Jorgensen, City Manager. “We appreciate your extra caution and care as you move around the City. We are continuing to work on residential areas as vehicles are struggling to navigate, but perhaps more importantly to mitigate the risk of significant ruts that could become a problem throughout the winter.” 

With the snow and winds the city is experiencing today, drifting is occurring on some of the priority streets, particularly those with high snow ridges in the medians and on the sides of the street. Crews will monitor these priority streets throughout the day and sand,  salt and plow as required.  

Please do not push snow out onto the street when clearing snow from sidewalks and driveways, as this can clog up streets with even more snow and continue to create accessibility issues. 

More information on our process for snow clearing can be found at saskatoon.ca/snow 

Administration briefed City Council late this afternoon about the plans for clearing snow on residential roads, resulting from the severe storm that brought an incredible 30 to 40 cm of snow in Saskatoon over the weekend. The plan for snow clearing was presented to all City Council members.  

“With just a few Priority streets remaining to be cleared, we can now focus our efforts on residential streets.  We’re coming to residential streets, and it’s our objective to restore mobility to key streets in every neighbourhood, city wide, in the next nine days or less,” says Jeff Jorgenson, City Manager. “Every day since the snowfall beginning on November 7, our crews have been working around the clock, making progress day and night, and we’ve now hired additional contractors to help us get to you as fast as possible.” 

As of today, we have 260 road crew members rotating 12 hour shifts, operating approximately 125 pieces of equipment, including plows, graders, sanders and sidewalk equipment. Today, clearing started on residential streets in Kensington and streets within Stonebridge are being cleared this evening and throughout the night. Tomorrow, crews will move to key streets within Rosewood, Evergreen, Brighton, Erindale, Arbor Creek, Hampton Village, Montgomery.  

“Extraordinary circumstances call for extraordinary measures, so the residential snow clearing schedule continues to evolve as we bring more and more contractors on board,” says Jorgenson. “We will be working simultaneously throughout the entire City, focused on beginning with the streets worst affected and clearing residential streets in all neighborhoods in a sequence where the streets carrying the most traffic, or are strategically located, are addressed first.” 

After the initial pass through, crews will then go back to clear any remaining streets and following that, will start the process of loading and hauling away the snow ridges in front of homes.   

“This effort will be a snow removal operation never before seen in our City,” Jorgenson adds. “This approach will provide the most mobility, most quickly, throughout the City.” 

Residents are not required to move their vehicle, but if able, crews will appreciate more space to complete the work and the ability to clear streets more fully.  

Back lanes will also be prioritized along with the residential snow clearing.  

“In my lifetime, I’ve yet to see a year like 2020, presenting our City with these significant challenges,” says Jorgenson. “Helping each other out, lending a hand to those in need, and seeking creative solutions will lead to great innovation and bring us out on the other side.”  

More information on our process for snow clearing will be updated mid-day tomorrow, including a schedule for the first nine days of residential snow clearing. This information can be found at saskatoon.ca/snow 

School Zone Snow Removal  

Crews are planning to remove piles of snow left by graders (windrows) from all school zones next week. This will provide space for vehicles parking or dropping off and picking up children.   

Saskatoon Transit  

Transit has resumed modified service on all routes. Detours and adjustments are needed on some routes due to road conditions and normal routing will resume as streets are cleared. Access Transit continues to provide essential trips only where road conditions permit.  

Transit users should consult the real-time app Transit or Google Maps Transit on desktop or SaskatoonTransit.ca for route information and service alerts.  

-30-