The City of Montreal is set to launch its first major snow removal operation of the season at 7 o'clock on Tuesday morning.
About 20 centimetres of snow are expected to fall on Montreal by the time it finally tapers off — and by dawn on Tuesday, nearly 2,200 city workers are expected to be on the job cleaning up after the storm.
The City will start with main streets first, as well as those with clinics, hospitals, or metro entrances, before it moves on to clearing the side streets.
Anie Samson, the executive committee member in charge of public safety, says the entire operation should be done by Saturday.
Samson understands that Montrealers can be especially demanding when it comes to removing snow, but she's calling on people to be patient.
"Every year people are complaining. They see the snow, they say 'wow, it's nice, but you have to remove it.'" Samson says. "So we say, be patient, this is the first [snowstorm]."
She says there are about 10,000 kilometres of streets and sidewalks to clear over the next week — 18 times the distance between Montreal and Quebec City.
And, of course, snow removal operations will mean parking restrictions. The orange no parking signs will go up momentarily — and they'll have to be respected, or else you run the risk of having your car towed.
Respecting the signs, the City says, will lead to fewer delays in completing the operation.
You can track the progress of snow removal operations by using the Info-Neige app, or visit the City's main snow removal web site for everything you need to know about the operation — including the designated free parking areas where you can leave your car while the operation is on.