Montreal pleads with residents as it struggles to clear record-breaking snowfall

MONTREAL — Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante pleaded for patience and urged caution on Wednesday as the city’s snow removal trucks and plows struggled to clear the record-shattering snowfall from back-to-back major storms.

Speaking to reporters at a municipal garage Wednesday, Plante said the city’s snow removal crews are working around the clock to clear streets and sidewalks. As of Wednesday morning, they had cleared about 15 per cent of the 72.4 centimetres of snow that fell between Thursday and Sunday.

“So far everything is rolling,” Plante said, likening snow removal operations to a choreographed ballet — one that Montrealers should watch from a distance. Plante said residents should limit travel as snow crews do their work in the coming days, asking that both motorists and pedestrians take extra care.

With about half of the city’s sidewalks snowed in and many pedestrians walking in the streets to get around, the mayor called on Montrealers to “share the road” and stay alert. “Be careful. You want to be very cautious about what’s happening around you,” she said.

“What we want to avoid is any type of accident for the citizens but also for the workers.”

Heavy snowfall may have played a part in two incidents this week, including one that proved deadly. On Tuesday a 13-year-old girl was found unresponsive, buried in snow in a suburb on Montreal’s South Shore. That same day in Montreal, a 57-year-old man was found inside a snow-covered vehicle with its engine running; his death was pronounced in hospital, and is under investigation.

Plante said the cleanup operation from storms on Thursday and Sunday will cost more than $50 million.

City spokesperson Philippe Sabourin said each centimetre of snow amounts to about $1 million in removal costs. The city has about $200 million budgeted for snow operations, he said, adding that it will take at least another week to remove the snowfall.

Gina Ressler, meteorologist at Environment and Climate Change Canada, said Montreal received 72.4 centimetres over the four days, 10 centimetres more than the previous record for a similar period set in February 1954. Two storms of such magnitude striking Montreal — which included rare blizzard conditions on Sunday — is “incredibly exceptional,” Ressler said.

“One storm in and of itself would be significant, but then to have these two storms back-to-back is something we almost never see in Montreal,” she said in an interview.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 19, 2025.

Joe Bongiorno, The Canadian Press