This was no ordinary winter entry snow event that crossed Saskatchewan over the last couple days. The Humboldt area was hard hit with heavy snowfall for a 24-hour period, accompanied by winds gusting to 70 km an hour reducing visibility and pushing snow into hard packed drifts.
It’s been a challenging couple of days for City of Humboldt Public Works crews who have been mobilized in round the clock shifts to plow the heavy volume of snow. With main arteries opening up, the city will begin to concentrate on priority 2 and 3 roadways within the community.
“This was a very challenging storm given that it started around 5 pm on Monday and ended near 6 pm on Tuesday,” said Humboldt’s Director of Public Works Peter Bergquist. “The winds kept howling at a good 60 km an hour. We think we got about 40 cm of snow which was higher than predicted, and those winds were really causing some grief.”
Environment Canada confirmed that snowfall peaked in the province in the Humboldt Melfort areas with around 40 cm in the 24 hour period.
The loose snow quickly banked up against doorways, in driveways and across highways and roadways. The resulting accumulation and high winds created much more than a usual start of year snowfall for city crews to contend with.
“We have day and night crews out, as well as contracted services to try to get through all the priority lists and eventually the residential areas to get everybody out,” Bergquist added.
The north end of the city, the direction the wind was coming from, created particular problems. City crews would plow a road, creating a ridge against which the snow would blow in and bank up against. The overnight blow had motorists and snow crews up against a new battle the next morning.
Now that main arteries are opening, the city focuses on priority 2 streets including school zones and collector roads, mainly avenues for traffic. Priority 3 and residential zones will be next. The city is also coordinating its efforts with REACT to ensure refuse collection can maintain as close to normal a schedule as possible.
The efforts will continue day and night until all city routes are cleared.
“Just bear with us,” Bergquist asks of public residents. “We understand the weather can cause some significant frustration, especially with trying to get to work and trying to get kids to school. Rely on neighbours or friends to help get you places, if need be, but just bear with us until we can get this back under control.”
The city’s map for priority street snow clearance is available through the City of Humboldt website.