City of Regina braces for snowstorm

City crews are on standby, ready to tackle the incoming snowstorm heading towards Regina.

On Tuesday afternoon, the City of Regina said it had up to 100 employees and roughly 46 graders at its disposal to use during the storm, which also includes private contractors.

“Once the initial snow actually starts, then we’ll go into what we call the storm mode, which is basically ice control – trying to keep the streets as open as we possibly can, keeping emergency routes open – those types of things,” said Daryl Massier, Regina’s roadways seasonal operations manager.

“Once the snow stops, then we’ll go into our systematic plow.”

The City of Regina’s systematic plow starts with its major collector roads like Albert Street and Broad Street. These are listed as Category 1 roads by the city.

The city then works down to secondary and tertiary collector roads listed as Category 2 (13th Avenue and Elphinstone Street, for instance) and 3 (Castle Road, Cumberland Road, Greenwood Crescent), respectively.

“Based on the models that we’ve seen, we’ve seen anywhere from eight to 10 centimetres to 25 centimetres, so … we’ll wait and see what happens,” Massier said.

He noted the 80-kilometre-an-hour winds set to gust through the city. “That’ll be our biggest challenge.”

Massier said 15 centimetres in a single snowfall would trigger the city’s residential snow plow, which is listed under Category 5. He said the city has sanders out all day and had nine out in its 11 districts on Tuesday.

The operations manager said he anticipates slippery road conditions as the snow comes in and recommended that people do their best to drive in accordance to the weather conditions. He also asked drivers to give city crews and vehicles space when they’re out on the road.

“If they could give us about three-and-a-half car lengths behind our equipment, especially our graders and our sanders, that’s a lot,” Massier said. “That’s a great help for them to keep that far back.”

“It just keeps them safe, it keeps us safe, it lets us do our job.”

Massier said the city would choose where to start its residential plow primarily based on which direction the wind was coming from. The roadway operations manager also explained that crews generally work from the outside going in.

If Regina receives 25 centimetres or more during the storm, Massier said it would be the largest snowfall event of the winter so far. The largest snowfall event last winter was measured at 17 centimetres on Feb. 5, 2025.