By the City of St. Catharines
With Environment Canada upgrading its winter storm watch to a warning the City is declaring a Significant Weather Event and will institute a Snow Parking Ban starting this evening.
Environment Canada has forecasted 20 to 30 cm of snow starting this evening, through to Thursday night. The impacts of the predicted snowfall could be greater than usual as the City continues to work to remove snow from urban areas after a record-setting snowfall two weeks ago.
As a result, the Significant Weather Event is being declared as of 9 p.m. on Feb. 2. As per the Ontario Municipal Act, a municipality may declare a significant weather event when a weather hazard, either forecasted or occurring, has the potential to pose a significant danger to users of the roadways over which they have authority. This declaration suspends the standard timelines required for municipalities to meet their winter maintenance objectives.
During significant weather events the City prioritizes snow removal on primary and designated secondary roads to ensure access for emergency responders and delivery of public transit. For more information about snow removal visit www.stcatharines.ca/SnowRemoval.
A Snow Parking Ban prohibiting on-street parking in the majority of the City will come into effect at 11 p.m. on Feb. 2. The prohibition is essential to allow City plows to remove snow quickly and effectively from transportation corridors.