Yellowknife struggles to clear above-average snowfall

Yellowknife – Residents and city officials in the Northwest Territories capital are struggling to keep up with the snow onslaught.

Longtime Yellowknife and former Territorial politician Kieron Testert says he got stuck in a snowball that formed overnight while trying to back out of his driveway on Friday morning.

“I’ve done all I can to clean it up, but there’s just too much and not enough shovels,” he said. there is not.”

Tester said a neighbor was driving and was pulling out other drivers who were stuck in the snow.

“When snow paralyzes a community, it affects everything from schools to the economy to public safety,” he said.

Chris Greencorn, the city’s director of public works and engineering, said this month’s snowfall is about six times more than this time last year.

“It put a lot of pressure on us,” he said. “All our crew members work day and night.”

Adding to the problem, Greencorn said, many residents are shoveling snow from driveways onto roads, in violation of city ordinances.

“[It]makes mobility worse for people with small cars and mobility problems,” he said.

Some residents have expressed dissatisfaction with the city’s snow removal efforts, Greencorn said, but Yellowknife’s budget is based on past trends, with eight plows currently allowed.

The city said Friday it plans to work with contractors over the weekend and next week to ramp up snow removal and winter road maintenance throughout Yellowknife.

Environment and Climate Change Canadian meteorologist Sarah Hoffman said Yellowknife had 46.6 centimeters of snow as of Tuesday, compared with a 30-year average of 31.9 centimeters. But she said she was nowhere near the November record of 85.5 centimeters set in Yellowknife in 2006.

Hoffmann said the city’s average temperature this month was -10 degrees Celsius, which was warmer than usual, compared to the previous average of about -14 degrees Celsius. .

However, hot temperatures are not expected to persist. Hoffman said a cold snap is coming on Monday, when temperatures are expected to drop more than 10 degrees below the average for the month.

“It can be a little shocking,” she said. “There will be drastic changes in temperature.”

This report by the Canadian Press was first published on November 26, 2022.

This article was produced with financial support from the Meta and Canadian Press News Fellowship.

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