NEWS PENTICTON WESTERN
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VOL. 48 ISSUE 9
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FRIDAY, January 31, 2014
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City considering snipping red tape
STORM CATCHES CITY BY SURPRISE By Thursday morning, Apex was reporting 25 cm on the runs. And with the sunshine at the top of the mounPentictonites woke to a white winter wonder- tain, Shalman said conditions are more like spring land Wednesday and a slippery commute to work, skiing. with city crews not providing their usual early reEnvironment Canada meteorologist Doug Lunsponse to the snowfall. dquist said the snow was expected to stop by today, A combination of factors slowed the city road with an arctic front moving in overnight, bringing crew’s response to the snowfall, according to Simdryer air and daily highs in the -1 to -3 C range. one Blais, the city’s communications officer. “Once we get rid of the few flurries that are The series of events started with the snow check, around (Thursday), we are not exwhich is done around 3 a.m. But at pecting much in the way of precipithat time there wasn’t a significant tation from Friday through until next amount of snow — it wasn’t until the on-call staff went back to bed Wednesday,” said Lundquist. that the snow began to come down. What ended up as a 10 cm accu“Shortly after that time it began mulation on the ground in Penticton snowing. Very thick, wet heavy stuff is also good news for the snowpack, that collected right away,” said Blais. which helps refill the region’s water “Once the crews came in for the It’s nice to see reservoirs in the spring. day, we also had some challenges On Jan. 1, the Okanagan snow the powder with the equipment and we weren’t pack was measured at 115 per cent able to get that next vehicle out on again. of normal levels and 80 per cent for the road. We also had a few other the Similkameen. — James Shalman tweaks that needed to be done. “If we got this much down here, “I don’t want to say it was a perthere is usually that much or double fect storm, but it was snowy and at high terrain, sometimes more. Esthere were a few hiccups.” pecially when it is heavy and wet Penticton has three levels of road clearing priority. Main routes, steep grades and like it was Wednesday,” said Lundquist. The snowfall also triggered the City of Pentemergency routes are the highest priority, and are icton to extend the deadline on the snow and ice to be clear within 12 hours of a storm. By the 24-hour mark, secondary roads, indus- survey it is conducting in order to get more input. trial routes, and school zones should be clear. “The deadline to complete the survey is Jan. 31, “And the priority three is the residential roads, but given we had this late winter weather blast, we lanes and walkways and we shoot to have those have decided to extend the survey to at least Feb. open within 48 hours of the storm ending,” said 7,” said Blais. Blais. “I know that people have their thoughts about “Those are our targets. Then things happen. You what their expectations are relative to snow and ice get a big wintery blast like this shortly after your removal. snow check in the morning and it just creates a “It is one of those services that in the Citizen bunch of challenges.” Survey we found people have higher expectations While the snow made for a slippery drive to and there was room for improvement in the serwork or school for some, others, like James Shalvice.” man, general manager of Apex Mountain Resort, The survey can tm be filled out at www.penticton. were happy to see it. “We have 17 centimetres so far and counting,” ca/Snow. Blais said they have some hard copies at City said Shalman on Wednesday. Hall for those who don’t want submit their opinion had an amazing amount of snowfall. A“We’ve whole new dimension in hearing technology It’s nice to see the powder again.” online. Steve Kidd
NEWS PENTICTON WESTERN Western News Staff
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TRISH FOYE of the Penticton and Area Cooperative Enterprise and other PACE members were on the job doing some sidewalk snow removal at Penticton Regional Hospital this week. Wednesday’s snowfall fell just shy of the record of just under 13 centimetres.
Mark Brett/Western News
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