Crews normally driving street sweepers will once again be on standby with snowplows this weekend. As another blast of winter hammers Grande Prairie and the surrounding area, the City of Grande Prairie’s attention has turned to keeping roads clear of snow.
The white stuff is forecasted to come down until the end of the weekend. Transportation Manager Robert Carroll says one factor the city has going for it is the ground temperature, as the warm concrete will work in its favour.
“It’s certainly considerably easier to deal with. You don’t have to apply any salt or abrasives to it; it’s just a matter of getting a plow on the surface and moving it to the side. It usually clears off pretty quick.”
Unofficially, Grande Prairie received seven centimetres of snow between 4 a.m. and noon on Friday, meaning the previous record for accumulation for May 3rd will likely be shattered. However, Carroll jokes that it’s never too much of a surprise when winter tries to take over what is normally the post winter clean up period.
“Oh yeah, it’s certainly not uncommon around here. I haven’t been here forever, but some of the guys around here say it can snow just about any month of the year.”
With temperatures expected to hit the mid-teens by next week, Carroll says the street sweeping program will be right back in business and hopefully not too behind schedule.