Montrealers deal with winter's last blast
Slushy and slippery streets — some of them completely snow-covered — have been making getting around difficult for vehicles and pedestrians alike throughout the day Tuesday.
As of 4 p.m., Environment Canada reported that 27 centimetres of snow had fallen on Montreal since the storm began in the wee hours of Tuesday morning, with another 5 centimetres expected overnight.
The City of Montreal's Jacques-Alain Lavallée says one-thousand city snow-clearing vehicles are on the road, with priority given to streets near metro stations, bus stops, hospitals and schools.
Snow-removal operations — the ones where they actually cart away the snow rather than just push it aside — will begin at 7 a.m. Wednesday morning in four Montreal boroughs: the downtown Ville-Marie borough, Lachine, Verdun and Anjou.
For the rest, Lavalée says, it's not clear when, or even if, snow-removal will get underway.
The long-term forecast is calling for much milder weather by the end of the week, and the suggestion is, some boroughs might just let all of it melt on the streets.
During the Tuesday morning rush hour, Montreal transit officials were saying buses were running up to 30 to 45 minutes behind schedule. Transit service, including commuter train service, returned to normal by the evening.
There are some flight delays and cancellations on the boards at Trudeau Airport in Dorval. Complicating matters for air travel is another winter storm system affecting Boston and New York. Forecasters are predicting up to 50 centimeters of snow for parts of New England.
Photo credit: Richard Deschamps, Leah Jewer, Michel Boyer, Twitter