MEDICINE HAT – Drivers in Medicine Hat were kept on their toes on Thursday as a result of the winter storm.
The snowfall warning remains in effect, but Environment Canada expects the snow will taper off late Thursday evening.
Environment Canada is predicting Medicine Hat will see between 25 to 35 centimetres of snow by the time it’s done.
The city said it’s had crews out plowing and sanding roads sing 4:00 A.M.
“We have seven graders out on the road right now, we have two plow trucks, eight sanding trucks, we [also] have sidewalk crews out,” said Municipal Works manager Jeremy Petryshyn.
Petryshyn said the heavy snowfall has made it difficult for them to keep up and they’ve had to focus almost exclusively on hills, and select major roadways.
“We’re getting a large amount of snow, a little bit of wind that’s causing drifting,” he said. “We’re having to go back to some of our areas several times to make sure that we can keep our roads open.”
Petryshyn said the city will continue to focus on those major routes until the snow ends.
“I imagine that there are some vehicles that are having a challenge on some of the roads with the amount of snow, but we will address those as soon as we possibly can.” he explained.
Sgt. Clarke White with the Medicine Hat Police traffic unit said the roads in the city are in rough shape and drivers need to be cautious.
“They’re obviously snow covered they’re extremely slippery there’s ice underneath the snow,” White explained. “It creates a hazardous situation in a lot of areas of the city, hills especially are extremely slick.”
The Police Service dealt with a number of collisions Thursday, some involving minor injuries. Nine were reported to the collision reporting centre.
White reminded drivers to leave extra room between vehicles, turn on their lights, and clear the snow off their entire car.
“Leave yourself lots of time to get to where you’re going,” he said. “You’re not getting anywhere fast today so don’t try to.”
The City said drivers should be prepared for another slow commute to work on Friday, but that it should be able to address all category one and most category two roadways by the end of the day Friday.
