City of Montreal to send out graders, salt trucks as deep freeze sets in
Major arteries, such as Sherbrooke St. and Henri-Bourassa Blvd., will be salted first
After two days of mild weather and rain this week, the City of Montreal says that graders and salt trucks will be out on the roads as all that melted snow and rain freezes over.
In the last 48 hours, temperatures rose to as high as 5 C, causing precipitation to fall as rain.
This morning, Montrealers woke up to sub-zero temperatures, and the mercury is expected to drop as low as -20 C by tonight.
"There are small accumulations of water in places that, without any intervention, will turn into sheets of ice at the arrival of the cold front. Therefore, the boroughs are currently conducting de-icing operations on sumps to ensure the proper drainage of the pavements," city spokesman Philippe Sabourin said.
Every winter, a total of about 150,000 tonnes of abrasive mixture is used.
The city said that the first places to see the abrasive salt mixtures will be:
- Major arteries (ex. Sherbrooke, Lacordaire or Henri-Bourassa.)
- Major streets on bus routes.
- Reserved bus lanes.
- Hospital entrances.
- Very narrow streets.
Currently, seven boroughs are also carrying out partial snow-removal operations using plows and snow blowers. They are:
- Anjou.
- Côte-des-Neiges—Notre-Dame-de-Grâce.
- Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve.
- Saint-Laurent.
- Sud-Ouest.
- Montreal North.
- Saint-Leonard.
Sabourin said getting rid of snow accumulation should prevent ice from forming.
"These operations should be completed at the latest on the night of Friday to Saturday, before the return of the cold," he said.
Weather forecast
CBC's weather specialist Frank Cavallaro says the temperature will keep falling throughout the day Friday, until the mercury drops to about -20 C overnight. It will remain cold Saturday.
- Today: Breezy, mainly sunny. High falls to -11 C.
- Tonight: Clear and cold. Low near -20 C.
- Saturday: Mostly sunny, cold. High near -12 C.
- Sunday: Sunny skies. High near -6 C.
- Monday: More sun. High near -3 C.
- Tuesday: Partly sunny. High near 0 C.