THUNDER BAY -- In case you missed it, there’s still three days left in winter.
Mother Nature delivered a stern reminder on Wednesday and Thursday, dumping up to 35 centimetres of snow on Thunder Bay and much of Northwestern Ontario, a late-winter storm that caught many by surprise.
At least the white, fluffy stuff was light, said Rob Skeggs, busy clearing his driveway on St. Patrick’s Day morning.
“I have to give credit to my wife,” he said. “She said we were going to get more snow, and she was right. It’s fine, and what do you do? We had some really nice spring weather and getting one more snowfall, it is what it is. At least it’s not freezing out.”
Shoveling wasn’t much of a chore, he added.
“It’s fine, it won’t take long to get rid of,” Skeggs said.
The winter dump wasn’t without its casualties.
Up to 1,500 people on the southern reaches of the city found themselves without power on Thursday morning, with several hundred still awaiting its return as the day shifted into its afternoon hours.
Thunder Bay’s Hydro’s Eileen Dias said crews were already on alert with the snowfall warning, with scattered outages occurring throughout the city.
“However, just before 6 a.m. we did have a very large outage that took place in the south rural end of the city,” Dias said.
“Our crews were already on patrol at that time, but this was a very large outage in an area with lots of trees and the situation was difficult to assess because of the fact there were a lot of stretches of lines that needed to be covered.”
Most affected customers saw their power return by noon.
“However, a small section remains without power,” Dias said, estimating the number at about 250.
City snow removal crews were also out in full force, said Brian Kral, Thunder Bay’s acting roads manager. Work began on Wednesday at noon clearing arterial routes, with about 10 centimetres of snow falling within a two-hour span.
Crews were sent home after the supper hour to rest, and it was all hands on deck by 2 a.m., as the snow continued to fall.
Kral said they’ve done an initial clearing of the city’s main roads, and have moved into residential areas. He cautioned people to exercise patience.
The city only has so many staff and so many machines and he estimated it will take two full days of clearing to get to everyone. About 22 graders and eight truck plows were dispatched early Thursday morning to deal with the storm’s aftermath.
“We’re looking at it as a whole event, so it’s not like after the first day everything is going to be over,” Kral said. “We’re looking at a two- or three-day cycle here.”
The amount of snow shouldn’t have an effect on how long it takes to clear the snow. Its texture and how fast it falls does, the latter having a major impact on Kral’s crews on Thursday.
“It fell a lot faster than we’re used to,” he said.
The snowfall was the largest of the season, according to Environment Canada.
