Windsor's cavalry of snow plows is hard at work during the city's first significant snowfall of the year.
The City of Windsor has its crews out on the streets working to keep the upper hand on what forecasters predict will be 5 cm to 10 cm of snowfall by Tuesday morning.
Dwayne Dawson, the city's executive operations director, tells BlackburnNewsWindsor.com that prepared for this first snowfall while the weather was still warm.
"Our preparations start in September with getting all of our equipment ready and developing snow plow routes and everything, and ensuring all of our GPS and crews are ready to go," says Dawson.
Trucks have been on the city's main streets for much of Monday salting to stay ahead of any accumulation. Once at least 5 cm of snow has fallen, crews are then dispatched to clear main streets. Residential streets are then plowed once snow hits at least 10 cm of accumulation, and even then, only after main roads are completed.
Dawson says in addition to clearing driveways and sidewalks within 12 hours of the snowfall, residents can help his crews out as well while they're driving.
"Give the snow plow guys some room out there," says Dawson. "They're doing a difficult job in some difficult conditions. Be cautious when you approach them, as they are dealing with parked cars and numerous other things with limited visibility conditions."
The city says following a snow plow too closely may result in poor visibility, and could cause stones and snow to damage your vehicle.
Meanwhile, in Essex County, crews are manning 18 routes on over 720 km of centreline roads to keep them clear. The county's highway division handles about 70 winter road events a season and uses about 18 tonnes of road salt.
The Ontario Ministry of Transportation's Ontario 511 service provides the latest information on winter road conditions, traffic reports and road closures through the 511 telephone line and their website.