Latest news with #snowstorm


CTV News
16-07-2025
- Climate
- CTV News
Chow says city staff ‘failed' in handling of record Toronto snowstorm
Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow addresses a report on 'systemic failure' in city's snow-clearing operation, and ignoring of residents' needs. Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow says city staff 'failed in their job' during this year's record-breaking snowstorm, pointing to broken plows, ignored 311 calls, and misleading public updates as neighbourhoods remained buried in snow for weeks. Chow's made the comment to reporters ahead of an executive committee meeting where an Auditor General review of the city's response to back-to-back-to-back February storms as well as another conducted by city staff was scheduled to be discussed. The reviews found that while the city's snow clearing works during routine weather, its procedures 'face systemic gaps' during major storms — issues Chow says have been 'ignored' and reflect a 'failed culture.' 'The sole response to the snowstorm… failed my expectations,' Chow said. 'The city staff in charge with managing the snow clearance failed in their job. They had no idea what was happening out in the field.' 'They ignored 99.83 per cent' of calls In the first half of February, Toronto saw more than 94 centimetres of snow, which marked about 30 per cent more snow than the city would normally get during that time. The series of storms, which alone dumped more than 50 centimetres of snow on the city over the span of just days, prompted a council-ordered review after widespread complaints about unplowed sidewalks and inaccessible roads. cars, Toronto, snow Cars are buried in Toronto's east end after two snowstorms last week. (Brian Weather/ CTV News) The review found staff had claimed to fully implement 19 recommendations around snow clearing ahead of February's snowfall — when in reality, only eight were completed. In addition, the auditor general's findings also revealed public updates during the storm didn't reflect real-time conditions, while 311 and PlowTO communications proved unreliable. On Wednesday, Chow said that of the 29,000 snow-related 311 calls logged during the storm, staff responded to just 51. 'Worst of all, the staff team received 29,000 calls for help… and they ignored 99.83 per cent of them,' Chow said. Equipment issues also plagued operations, with city contractors using incorrect machinery that broke down mid-storm, Chow said. 'The snow plows broke down when we needed them most because the staff allowed privately contracted companies to use the wrong machines, despite the contract specifying which machines to use,' Chow said. 'We must fix this failed culture' A second independent review, ordered by City Manager Paul Johnson and released last week, found Toronto's winter maintenance program generally works but faces 'systemic gaps' that limit efforts during major snow events. Toronto snowstorm People walk through a snow-covered street following a heavy snowfall in Toronto, on Thursday, February 13, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Arlyn McAdorey (Arlyn McAdorey/The Canadian Press) Chow said both reports exposed 'errors that were not fixed over the years, despite four previous investigations into the city's snow removal processes.' She described inspection logs as incomplete, missing signatures, or skipped entirely, and criticized Toronto for failing to adopt more reliable equipment like Montreal and Calgary's more specialized plows. 'I will accept (the city manager's) recommendations as the first step to address this systemic failure,' she said. 'We must fix this failed culture of ignoring residents' basic needs.'


CTV News
16-07-2025
- Climate
- CTV News
Plows broke, 311 calls ignored: Chow slams city response to record snowstorm
Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow says city staff 'failed in their job' during this year's record-breaking snowstorm, pointing to broken plows, ignored 311 calls, and misleading public updates as neighbourhoods remained buried in snow for weeks. Chow's made the comment to reporters ahead of an executive committee meeting where an Auditor General review of the city's response to back-to-back-to-back February storms as well as another conducted by city staff was scheduled to be discussed. The reviews found that while the city's snow clearing works during routine weather, its procedures 'face systemic gaps' during major storms — issues Chow says have been 'ignored' and reflect a 'failed culture.' 'The sole response to the snowstorm… failed my expectations,' Chow said. 'The city staff in charge with managing the snow clearance failed in their job. They had no idea what was happening out in the field.' 'They ignored 99.83 per cent' of calls In the first half of February, Toronto saw more than 94 centimetres of snow, which marked about 30 per cent more snow than the city would normally get during that time. The series of storms, which alone dumped more than 50 centimetres of snow on the city over the span of just days, prompted a council-ordered review after widespread complaints about unplowed sidewalks and inaccessible roads. cars, Toronto, snow Cars are buried in Toronto's east end after two snowstorms last week. (Brian Weather/ CTV News) The review found staff had claimed to fully implement 19 recommendations around snow clearing ahead of February's snowfall — when in reality, only eight were completed. In addition, the auditor general's findings also revealed public updates during the storm didn't reflect real-time conditions, while 311 and PlowTO communications proved unreliable. On Wednesday, Chow said that of the 29,000 snow-related 311 calls logged during the storm, staff responded to just 51. 'Worst of all, the staff team received 29,000 calls for help… and they ignored 99.83 per cent of them,' Chow said. Equipment issues also plagued operations, with city contractors using incorrect machinery that broke down mid-storm, Chow said. 'The snow plows broke down when we needed them most because the staff allowed privately contracted companies to use the wrong machines, despite the contract specifying which machines to use,' Chow said. 'We must fix this failed culture' A second independent review, ordered by City Manager Paul Johnson and released last week, found Toronto's winter maintenance program generally works but faces 'systemic gaps' that limit efforts during major snow events. Toronto snowstorm People walk through a snow-covered street following a heavy snowfall in Toronto, on Thursday, February 13, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Arlyn McAdorey (Arlyn McAdorey/The Canadian Press) Chow said both reports exposed 'errors that were not fixed over the years, despite four previous investigations into the city's snow removal processes.' She described inspection logs as incomplete, missing signatures, or skipped entirely, and criticized Toronto for failing to adopt more reliable equipment like Montreal and Calgary's more specialized plows. 'I will accept (the city manager's) recommendations as the first step to address this systemic failure,' she said. 'We must fix this failed culture of ignoring residents' basic needs.'


Daily Mail
15-07-2025
- Daily Mail
Furious Aussies left waiting for HOURS after ski lift froze over at popular resort
Skiers are eagerly awaiting the end of school holidays following two weeks of overcrowded slopes and hour-long queues. Dozens of Aussies visiting ski resorts in NSW and Victoria have taken to social media to vent following a busy fortnight at the popular winter holiday destinations. Several visitors complained of waiting for over an hour to use the ski lift after paying up to $264 for a ski lift pass at Perisher or $177 at Falls Creek. Many skiers also face hefty travel and accommodation costs to visit the Snowy Mountains, with hotels near the slopes going for hundreds of dollars per night. However, it wasn't just large crowds causing repeated delays across the mountains. The first week of school holidays, which typically sees a jump in visitors, coincided with a cold front moving through the region - causing chaotic snowstorm conditions. While it was good news for skiers, it spelt disaster for resort operators. Frustrations boiled over last week when the ski lifts at Falls Creek were delayed due to the system freezing shut. 'We're sorry for the delays getting lifts open this morning,' the resort said. 'Our full team has been working hard since the early hours to de-ice and get things moving. With a big snowstorm on the way, there may be more delays tomorrow. We'll keep doing everything we can to get lifts spinning as soon as conditions allow. 'Thanks for your patience.' While some visitors were understanding of the situation, others were unimpressed. 'I was here and it felt like it took hours,' one wrote under a TikTok video of Falls Creek. 'I took one look and went back to bed,' another said. 'Took me 40 minutes to get to the top,' a third commented. Several others expressed frustration at the high cost of skiing in Australia, compared to the price and quality of skiing overseas. 'Cheaper to fly to Japan and ski there! Best snow,' one person wrote. 'It costs almost the same to fly to New Zealand and ski there,' another said. More frequent visitors shared their advice on how to avoid large crowds in the area. 'It's only like that until 10am,' one person said. 'Once people filter out on the mountain there's no line.'

CTV News
12-07-2025
- Climate
- CTV News
Staff recommend year-round winter operations unit following review of Toronto's February snowstorm response
An independent review found 'significant shortcomings' in the city's response to February's major storm event that dumped more than 50 centimetres of snow. Toronto needs a stronger plan to respond to major snow events, including a year-round dedicated winter operations unit, after an independent review found 'significant shortcomings' in the city's response to February's major storm event that dumped more than 50 centimetres of snow. The findings of the review, conducted by Municipal VU Consulting Inc. at the request of City Manager Paul Johnson, were released on Friday. It found that while the city's winter maintenance processes and procedures tend to work for routine snowfall, 'they face systemic gaps that limit their effectiveness when major snow events hit.' 'The gaps are interconnected, cutting across policy, operations, contracts, technology, and communication, and should be addressed to build a more resilient, agile, accountable program,' the report stated. Among the challenges the city faced were clearing sidewalks and residential roads, which took weeks. The review found that there was limited snow storage on narrow rights-of-way, unreliable equipment, reporting discrepancies on what sidewalks and streets were cleared and communications with the city via 311 and PlowTO were inconsistent. The review also found that city contracts were structured for salting and clearing but not for large-scale snow removal and that there was a lack of surge capacity in staffing and equipment. 'While we have a framework of a plan, we do not have the operationalization efforts below that to ensure that we can, in real time, respond to the things that happen when we have major snow events,' Johnson told reporters during a news conference Friday, discussing the report. Paul Johnson Toronto City Manager Paul Johnson speaks to reporters on July 11, 2025. 'We also don't really treat it sometimes like it is the emergency that it is.' In his report going before next week's Executive Committee, among Johnson's recommendations are for the city to finalize and operationalize a 'detailed, scalable response' when there is a major snow event and procure dedicated, unit-based snow removal contracts. 'Toronto needs to remove snow in major snow events and yet we don't have a really robust contracting approach for the removal of snow. We do not have standalone contracts as other cities do for snow removal itself,' Johnson said. 'Why that matters is that we are constantly having to trade off in major snow events, whether we're pushing snow in the clearing phase and salting and sanding, or whether we're removing snow so we can have better storage capacity.' Johnson is also recommending that the city establish a dedicated year-round winter operation unit to address the lack of surge capacity in staff and equipment. 'It does not exist here at the City of Toronto at the moment, and it will, moving forward,' the city manager said. The unit, which could be established within the current staff through restructuring, would coordinate all aspects of winter readiness, including plan development, mapping, training, contract oversight and inter-divisional drills. Expand Autoplay 1 of 25 Driving downtown at 5:50 a.m. Thursday Toronto saw its first major snowstorm of the year overnight, and the highest amount of snowfall in three years with more than 20 centimetres of snowfall blanketing the city and the GTA. A house blanketed by the snowfall CP24 Meteorologist Bill Coulter says that the last time the city saw more than 26 centimeres of snow as a result of a single storm was on Jan. 17, 2022 (28.8 cm). DVP at 6 a.m. Thursday OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt said traffic was already starting to build at around 5:30 a.m., urging drivers to stay off the roads if they could. "We don't have a lot of crashes going on. What we do have is a lot of cars slipping and sliding, getting stuck on on-ramps, off-ramps and just on snowbanks themselves," Schmidt said at around 5:30 on Thursday. Plane de-icing at Toronto Pearson At least 26 centimetres of snow fell at Toronto Pearson International Airport, prompting some flight cancellations due to the inclement weather. Pearson long line ups Feb. 13 Travellers wait in long security line ups at Toronto Pearson Airport on Feb. 13. Pearson airport Toronto Pearson International Airport published a timelapse video showing what crews have to do to clear snow off the runways. The airport says it saw more snow overnight than it did for the entire month of January. Child pulled in sleigh Several school boards across the GTA closed schools and cancelled student transportation for the day. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young Toboggan Children toboggan down a hill following heavy snow in Toronto, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Arlyn McAdorey Plow stuck in shoulder The City of Toronto says plowing is expected to go into Friday due to the heavy snow accumulation. All 1,400 piece of winter equipment took over the city's streets to clear highways, roads, bike lanes and sidewalks, the city says, though snow removal to designated dump sites likely won't start until early next week. Snow-covered subway The TTC says it is doing everything it can to "ensure all buses are serving all available stops." Meanwhile, Metrolinx says GO Transit is running on a "special schedule" on Thursday, meaning some train trips have been cancelled and other bus routes faced delays. (Laura) TTC bus stuck in the snow A TTC bus got stuck in the area of Chaplin Crescent and Roselawn Avenue on Thursday morning. (CTV News Toronto/Janice Golding) Group helping car out of snow The City of Toronto declared the winter event a "major snow condition," making parking along snow routes prohibited. Vincent Sferrazza, the city's director of transportation services, said more than 700 tickets had been issued to drivers disregarding that rule as of Thursday morning. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Arlyn McAdorey Shovelling snow Snow stopped falling across most of the Greater Toronto Area at around 8 a.m. with Environment Canada lifting its snowfall warning for Toronto about a half-hour later on Thursday. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Arlyn McAdorey (The Canadian Press) Toronto snowstorm With snow clearing efforts still underway, Torontonians can look at the city's PlowTO map to track plowing progress in their area. They just need to input their address to see when their street was last cleared. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Arlyn McAdorey A child in a snowbank A child is seen nestled in a large pile of snow. It appears snow plows cleared the roads in this residential neighbourhood, contributing to large mounds of snow in concentrated areas throughout the street. Dog in snow Though the bulk of the snowstorm ended for Toronto, Environment Canada forecasts periods of snow to return to the city over the weekend. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Arlyn McAdorey The winter storm outside of the GTA Ottawa was also hit hard by the winter storm, getting more than 28 cm of snow. Here, a vehicle is seen in the ditch along the northbound lanes of Highway 416 on Thursday. (Tyler Fleming/CTV News Ottawa) Cross-country skiers in downtown Ottawa Two people cross-country ski along Sparks Street in Ottawa on Thursday. More than 28 cm of snow has fallen. A snowplow in Waterloo Region Waterloo Region and Guelph saw about 15 cm of snow, with 2 to 4 cm falling per hour at its peak. A person skates along the Rideau Canal The City of Ottawa has declared a significant weather event with Environment Canada predicting total snowfall amounts ranging from 30 to 40cm with near zero visibility at times. (Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press) Chihuahua in the snow Some dogs, like this one, still braved the mountains of snow to go for their daily walk. Snowbanks in Barrie Though the winter storm warning ended for Toronto, cities in central Ontario, like Barrie, continue to be walloped by snow. Environment Canada forecasts up to 40 centimetres of snow in areas off Lake Huron and Georgian Bay. (CTV News Barrie) More than enough snow for snow angels Ontario got dumped with more than enough snow to make snow angels in the back yard, as demonstrated by one CTV News reader. Kids shovelling walks too While many Ontarian adults shovelled their walks and driveways this morning, this toddler is seen also trying to do their part. How much snow fell in the GTA? Environment Canada said volunteer observations calculated totals of 26 cm in Etobicoke, 23 cm in Scarborough, 21 cm in Mississauga, 20 cm in both North York and Burlington, 19 cm in Woodbridge, and 18 cm in Whitby. The review also found that public messaging during the storm did not reflect what was happening on the ground. 'Residents, Councillors, and staff lacked clear and timely information about snow removal timelines and operational constraints,' the report stated. That's why Johnson is recommending the city implement a modernized and tiered communication approach. 'It's a lot like flooding events that happen from time to time, where we need to be clear with the public how we're doing and communicate better the results rather than the effort,' Johnson said. He also wants the city not to put a temporary hold on 311 service calls as the snow is falling, to allow residents to report their concerns and complaints. 'It leads to periods where it looks like there aren't a lot of things going wrong in our response, and then all of a sudden we see the surge when we open up the ability for people to log their concerns,' he said. 'It would give us a chance to heat map how we can better respond to certain areas of the city that may have some issues in terms of either clearing or the removal of snow.' The independent review is the second report into the city's response to the February snow event. Toronto's Auditor General also released a separate report last week, finding that the city had not fully implemented recommendations around snow clearing ahead of the snowstorm. 'The Auditor General has indicated areas where we can improve in terms of the monitoring of the performance of our contractors, but in terms of what residents and business owners and visitors to the City of Toronto might experience, when we get those smaller amounts of snow, we do a pretty strong job,' Johnson said. 'However, we consistently fall short of that mark when we have a major winter event.'

CTV News
11-07-2025
- Climate
- CTV News
Review found ‘significant shortcomings' in Toronto's response to February snowstorm
People walk through a snow-covered street following a heavy snowfall in Toronto, on Thursday, February 13, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Arlyn McAdorey Toronto needs a stronger plan to respond to major snow events, including a year-round dedicated winter operations unit, after an independent review found 'significant shortcomings' in the city's response to February's major storm event that dumped more than 50 centimetres of snow. The findings of the review, conducted by Municipal VU Consulting Inc. at the request of City Manager Paul Johnson, were released on Friday. It found that while the city's winter maintenance processes and procedures tend to work for routine snowfall, 'they face systemic gaps that limit their effectiveness when major snow events hit.' 'The gaps are interconnected, cutting across policy, operations, contracts, technology, and communication, and should be addressed to build a more resilient, agile, accountable program,' the report stated. Among the challenges the city faced were clearing sidewalks and residential roads, which took weeks. The review found that there was limited snow storage on narrow rights-of-way, unreliable equipment, reporting discrepancies on what sidewalks and streets were cleared and communications with the city via 311 and PlowTO were inconsistent. The review also found that city contracts were structured for salting and clearing but not for large-scale snow removal and that there was a lack of surge capacity in staffing and equipment. 'While we have a framework of a plan, we do not have the operationalization efforts below that to ensure that we can, in real time, respond to the things that happen when we have major snow events,' Johnson told reporters during a news conference Friday, discussing the report. Paul Johnson Toronto City Manager Paul Johnson speaks to reporters on July 11, 2025. 'We also don't really treat it sometimes like it is the emergency that it is.' In his report going before next week's Executive Committee, among Johnson's recommendations are for the city to finalize and operationalize a 'detailed, scalable response' when there is a major snow event and procure dedicated, unit-based snow removal contracts. 'Toronto needs to remove snow in major snow events and yet we don't have a really robust contracting approach for the removal of snow. We do not have standalone contracts as other cities do for snow removal itself,' Johnson said. 'Why that matters is that we are constantly having to trade off in major snow events, whether we're pushing snow in the clearing phase and salting and sanding, or whether we're removing snow so we can have better storage capacity.' Johnson is also recommending that the city establish a dedicated year-round winter operation unit to address the lack of surge capacity in staff and equipment. 'It does not exist here at the City of Toronto at the moment, and it will, moving forward,' the city manager said. The unit, which could be established within the current staff through restructuring, would coordinate all aspects of winter readiness, including plan development, mapping, training, contract oversight and inter-divisional drills. Expand Autoplay 1 of 25 Driving downtown at 5:50 a.m. Thursday Toronto saw its first major snowstorm of the year overnight, and the highest amount of snowfall in three years with more than 20 centimetres of snowfall blanketing the city and the GTA. A house blanketed by the snowfall CP24 Meteorologist Bill Coulter says that the last time the city saw more than 26 centimeres of snow as a result of a single storm was on Jan. 17, 2022 (28.8 cm). DVP at 6 a.m. Thursday OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt said traffic was already starting to build at around 5:30 a.m., urging drivers to stay off the roads if they could. "We don't have a lot of crashes going on. What we do have is a lot of cars slipping and sliding, getting stuck on on-ramps, off-ramps and just on snowbanks themselves," Schmidt said at around 5:30 on Thursday. Plane de-icing at Toronto Pearson At least 26 centimetres of snow fell at Toronto Pearson International Airport, prompting some flight cancellations due to the inclement weather. Pearson long line ups Feb. 13 Travellers wait in long security line ups at Toronto Pearson Airport on Feb. 13. Pearson airport Toronto Pearson International Airport published a timelapse video showing what crews have to do to clear snow off the runways. The airport says it saw more snow overnight than it did for the entire month of January. Child pulled in sleigh Several school boards across the GTA closed schools and cancelled student transportation for the day. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young Toboggan Children toboggan down a hill following heavy snow in Toronto, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Arlyn McAdorey Plow stuck in shoulder The City of Toronto says plowing is expected to go into Friday due to the heavy snow accumulation. All 1,400 piece of winter equipment took over the city's streets to clear highways, roads, bike lanes and sidewalks, the city says, though snow removal to designated dump sites likely won't start until early next week. Snow-covered subway The TTC says it is doing everything it can to "ensure all buses are serving all available stops." Meanwhile, Metrolinx says GO Transit is running on a "special schedule" on Thursday, meaning some train trips have been cancelled and other bus routes faced delays. (Laura) TTC bus stuck in the snow A TTC bus got stuck in the area of Chaplin Crescent and Roselawn Avenue on Thursday morning. (CTV News Toronto/Janice Golding) Group helping car out of snow The City of Toronto declared the winter event a "major snow condition," making parking along snow routes prohibited. Vincent Sferrazza, the city's director of transportation services, said more than 700 tickets had been issued to drivers disregarding that rule as of Thursday morning. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Arlyn McAdorey Shovelling snow Snow stopped falling across most of the Greater Toronto Area at around 8 a.m. with Environment Canada lifting its snowfall warning for Toronto about a half-hour later on Thursday. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Arlyn McAdorey (The Canadian Press) Toronto snowstorm With snow clearing efforts still underway, Torontonians can look at the city's PlowTO map to track plowing progress in their area. They just need to input their address to see when their street was last cleared. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Arlyn McAdorey A child in a snowbank A child is seen nestled in a large pile of snow. It appears snow plows cleared the roads in this residential neighbourhood, contributing to large mounds of snow in concentrated areas throughout the street. Dog in snow Though the bulk of the snowstorm ended for Toronto, Environment Canada forecasts periods of snow to return to the city over the weekend. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Arlyn McAdorey The winter storm outside of the GTA Ottawa was also hit hard by the winter storm, getting more than 28 cm of snow. Here, a vehicle is seen in the ditch along the northbound lanes of Highway 416 on Thursday. (Tyler Fleming/CTV News Ottawa) Cross-country skiers in downtown Ottawa Two people cross-country ski along Sparks Street in Ottawa on Thursday. More than 28 cm of snow has fallen. A snowplow in Waterloo Region Waterloo Region and Guelph saw about 15 cm of snow, with 2 to 4 cm falling per hour at its peak. A person skates along the Rideau Canal The City of Ottawa has declared a significant weather event with Environment Canada predicting total snowfall amounts ranging from 30 to 40cm with near zero visibility at times. (Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press) Chihuahua in the snow Some dogs, like this one, still braved the mountains of snow to go for their daily walk. Snowbanks in Barrie Though the winter storm warning ended for Toronto, cities in central Ontario, like Barrie, continue to be walloped by snow. Environment Canada forecasts up to 40 centimetres of snow in areas off Lake Huron and Georgian Bay. (CTV News Barrie) More than enough snow for snow angels Ontario got dumped with more than enough snow to make snow angels in the back yard, as demonstrated by one CTV News reader. Kids shovelling walks too While many Ontarian adults shovelled their walks and driveways this morning, this toddler is seen also trying to do their part. How much snow fell in the GTA? Environment Canada said volunteer observations calculated totals of 26 cm in Etobicoke, 23 cm in Scarborough, 21 cm in Mississauga, 20 cm in both North York and Burlington, 19 cm in Woodbridge, and 18 cm in Whitby. The review also found that public messaging during the storm did not reflect what was happening on the ground. 'Residents, Councillors, and staff lacked clear and timely information about snow removal timelines and operational constraints,' the report stated. That's why Johnson is recommending the city implement a modernized and tiered communication approach. 'It's a lot like flooding events that happen from time to time, where we need to be clear with the public how we're doing and communicate better the results rather than the effort,' Johnson said. He also wants the city not to put a temporary hold on 311 service calls as the snow is falling, to allow residents to report their concerns and complaints. 'It leads to periods where it looks like there aren't a lot of things going wrong in our response, and then all of a sudden we see the surge when we open up the ability for people to log their concerns,' he said. 'It would give us a chance to heat map how we can better respond to certain areas of the city that may have some issues in terms of either clearing or the removal of snow.' The independent review is the second report into the city's response to the February snow event. Toronto's Auditor General also released a separate report last week, finding that the city had not fully implemented recommendations around snow clearing ahead of the snowstorm. 'The Auditor General has indicated areas where we can improve in terms of the monitoring of the performance of our contractors, but in terms of what residents and business owners and visitors to the City of Toronto might experience, when we get those smaller amounts of snow, we do a pretty strong job,' Johnson said. 'However, we consistently fall short of that mark when we have a major winter event.'