WINNIPEG – Snow-covered and slow going, Wednesday night’s rush hour wasn’t rushing anywhere.
Portage and Main looked more like a parking lot, with drivers reporting a 30 to 40 minute wait to get just a block or two.
The snow started just as the Wednesday morning drive was heating up and most main routes around Winnipeg, already ice- and snow-covered, crawled along as the snow kept falling.
“Main roads are very slow. It took me 45 minutes to get down Henderson, which is usually just a 10 minute drive,” one woman told Global News.
Five to 10 centimetres of snow accumulated inside city limits. In some places, it fell so heavy and fast that a centimetre an hour hit the ground.
Environment Canada said this is not the end. More snow is on the way for Friday and blowing snow on Monday.
“It’s a little on the high side. We were thinking about two to four centimetres and obviously the system was a little stronger and really lined up right over the city,” said Environment Canada meteorologist Dale Marciski. “We really are in this pattern now that every few days we get a few centimetres of snow.”
City of Winnipeg officials said they are doing their best to keep up with the ice; sanding trucks have been out since the first major accumulation in mid-November.
Wednesday was the first major push for plows, with the city declaring an early snow route parking ban.
“We have the declared snow route ban in effect from midnight (Wednesday) until 7 a.m.,” said Jim Berezowsky. “That will be in effect until further notice.”
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