Main roads through Nanaimo are effectively clear, courtesy a productive night from crews, however the conditions of side streets remains in flux. (Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Alex Rawnsley

quick work

‘We made some great progress:’ snow clearing crews into residential areas of Nanaimo & Oceanside

Jan 18, 2024 | 11:37 AM

NANAIMO — Favourable overnight weather has allowed local snow-clearing crews to make some decent headway into moving Mother Nature’s latest blast of snow.

Between 10 and 30 centimetres fell on Wednesday, Jan. 17 but stopped in the late morning hours. The pause between storms also saw temperatures remain above freezing, continuing a widespread melt of snowy conditions.

David Thompson, City manager of roads, told NanaimoNewsNOW it’s been a productive last 24 hours.

“We made some great progress overnight, we had a full crew out pushing our way into priority two and three routes. This morning, the priority one routes are looking in pretty good condition so we’re continuing to push into those residential neighbourhoods.”

Around 15 or 16 pieces of equipment are out on the roads Thursday, continuing to clear Wednesday’s dump and preparing for another snowstorm which began mid-morning.

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It’s a race to clear as much as possible so a second snowfall doesn’t cover compacted sections.

Thompson said drivers should be prepared for winter driving conditions across the city with very slippery roads.

“We do have salt down in those areas and really it’s just a matter of time. We’ll take one pass, clear things off then come back in a couple of hours to finish it up. We’re making good progress, pretty happy but we’ve got almost 800 cul-de-sacs to get to so it’s going to take us some time.”

New snowfall may force clearing crews back onto priority one routes, including main roads, transit and emergency routes.

Thompson said it’s a wait-and-see approach.

“If snow is sticking to those priority one routes and reducing their safety or accessibility then we’ll turn back to those but we’re looking at the rest of the day with more snow and potentially freezing rain and ice pellets.”

Slippery roads are believed to be a major contributing factor behind a crash in the city’s north end Thursday morning, with a vehicle sliding through an intersection and down an embankment.

The City is also asking all residents shovelling their driveways to also handle any sidewalks immediately in front of their properties.

Thompson added homeowners should not be pushing snow out onto the roadway as it creates a hazard for drivers and plow operators.

He also said a helpful tip is to shovel to the right of a driveway, looking from the home to the road, in a bid to reduce the volume of snow plows drag across as they pass.

Crews in Parksville made headway overnight, aided by warm temperatures and a roughly 12 hour break in snowfall. (City of Parksville)

Parksville clears majority of roads
An update from the City of Parksville Thursday morning indicated crews there also had a productive evening.

Around 70 per cent of local roads received at least one pass from plows, as well as a layer of salt put down.

Trucks were able to get considerably into residential and side areas of the community.

“All trucks were out through the evening and overnight plowing and salting local roads as well as salting first and second priority roads again early [Thursday] morning,” the update read. “First and second priority roads are currently in great shape.”

The second storm
More snow is in the forecast for Nanaimo and Oceanside over the next day.

A snowfall warning is calling for between 10 and 20 centimetres of snow to fall through Friday morning when conditions are expected to shift to more rainfall.

Freezing rain is also a possibility in areas around Nanaimo and along the Malahat Hwy. overnight.

Canada Post is also advising they will attempt delivery through the Nanaimo and Oceanside regions on Thursday, after cancelling service on Wednesday.

They’ve downgraded the region from a red, or full service cancellation, to yellow.

“This means we will make every effort deliver today, but there may be delays and we may not reach some addresses because of ongoing icy conditions,” a Canada Post representative said.

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