En pleine tempête

It is the second week of November, but the winter season is early this year and the first centimetres of snow have already covered the Quebec landscape. Municipal, commercial and residential snow removal teams have already taken out the heavy artillery.

At the end of December, the signs of winter are very visible in the streets of Quebec, and the outings were numerous for all the snow removal teams. On this December 31, major precipitation is expected all day as well as all night. Therefore, snow removal teams will smash into the new year on the road and in the middle of a storm.

A meteorological depression crosses all the sectors that border the Saint Lawrence River, striking Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville and Quebec City with full force. This extraordinary storm is causing extremely strong winds, freezing temperatures and huge precipitation; a weather cocktail that we have not seen in a long time.

We are at the end of January and the amounts of snow that have accumulated so far in Quebec are astronomical. Now is the time to move it away, which is a colossal task for the snow removal teams who have multiplied the snow loading trips at a frequency never seen before.

In Quebec, precipitation is increasing, but snow is not the only one to be there. This winter, the formidable ice is also at the rendezvous. Tonight, several millimetres of freezing rain are added to the imposing amounts of snow that cover the city. This is yet another challenge for snow removal teams.

For snow removal teams, winter is starting to weigh heavily. If the trend continues, precipitation records will be broken. They are completely overwhelmed, to the point where they no longer know what to do with this snow which accumulates at high speed. We are witnessing a real snow war between private and municipal snow removal teams.