Londoners dig out after massive snow dump as bitter cold, heavy wind creeps in

People across London and the surrounding region started their Family Day by digging themselves out after a weekend of wintry weather left much of the province under a thick blanket of snow.

That process began as the Middlesex-London Health Unit (MLHU) warned of bitter cold and Environment Canada warned of heavy winds and blowing snow that could make for hazardous driving conditions.

In east London, that cold, wind and snow didn't stop residents from clearing the way so they could begin enjoying their holiday.

"Actually having a winter this year feels a little unusual," said Londoner Mike Miles as he shoveled snow at the front of a large commercial property on Princess Avenue. "I feel like we're kind of getting a little bit of what we used to get back in the day."

Miles's property was flanked by boulevards with snowbanks as tall as two metres — the result of heavy snowfall that came from back-to-back winter storms. The storms covered the region from southwestern Ontario to Quebec and took place throughout Saturday and Sunday.

The conditions, while difficult, did bring out the kindness and warmth that often shines through Canadian winters, Miles said.

"It's kind of part of the culture. Here in Canada, we're super nice people. If we see somebody that needs help, we're not afraid to get out there and give them a hand," Miles said.

Those in need certainly appreciated the helping hands.

Jessica Justrabo found herself — and her car — stuck in a snowbank at the end of a driveway after taking the risk of plowing through it in an attempt to park.

"Everybody on the street is [blocked] out," she said. "The sidewalk plows blocked us in our driveway, then the street plows block the end of the driveway."

It wasn't long before neighbours took notice, and within 20 minutes the car was free.

"Whenever I've gotten stuck, people have always helped me at some point," Justrabo said. "It's reassuring to know that people in our community are willing to help each other out."

For other Londoners like Paul Cieslak, the shoveling was a less than ideal but ultimately necessary process.

"I feel like we haven't had this much snow in probably close to 10 years. The problem with this is we're getting a storm after storm after storm ... It's just a pain to shovel it, and we have nowhere to put it," he said.

City plows working on overdrive

The scope of the snowfall that hit the city over the weekend was felt firsthand by the City of London's snow plow operators.

Joel Gillard, the city's division manager of road operations, said while operators work in rotating shifts, some of his fleet of plows and salters had been on the roads for close to 72 hours by Monday.

The city's 70 road plows, 50 sidewalk plows and 28 salt and sand trucks primarily work on arterial roads and bus routes before fanning out to cover other areas.

"It's been a challenging event to manage," Gillard said, pointing to the city-wide scene of two-metre tall snowbanks and cul-de-sacs with mountains of snow in their centres.

"There's [typically] no problem pushing that snow to the side of the road, but now those snow banks are getting quite significant. We're having to bring in additional equipment to get that snow up and out of the way," he said.

Cold, wind causing concerns

Now that the dust has mostly settled, a bitter cold and heavy winds are taking hold.

The Middlesex-London Health Unit issued a cold alert Monday morning, noting the low temperatures with windchill values as low as -30 C forecast for overnight.

In response, on top opening warming centres, the City of London activated a temporary overnight emergency warming centre at Boyle Memorial Community Centre.

At the same time, Environment Canada issued an extreme cold warning and a blowing snow advisory, warning of strong wind gusts that could blow snow across roads, resulting in near-zero visibility, especially in rural areas.

That advisory was expected to lift after Monday evening.