If you want to see how much snow Whitehorse has received this winter, just visit one of the 11 snow dumps around the city.

Mayor Laura Cabott hosted a brief, frigid press conference Tuesday afternoon at the snow dump off Robert Service Way to give reporters an idea of how much snow the city has removed from roadways so far this winter.

Cabott drives by the Robert Service Way snow dump every day, but Tuesday was the first time this winter she drove in to have a look.

When she visited it last March, she said, she was impressed by the volume of snow that was dumped there and managed by city crews.

Last winter also saw record levels of snow. This winter is on track to surpass last winter’s amount, according to city records.

It’s estimated city crews dumped 209,000 cubic metres of snow at Robert Service Way last winter.

So far this winter, it’s estimated crews have already dumped an estimated 200,000 cubic metres.

There are rows upon rows of snow at the snow dump, some measuring almost 10 metres high or more.

Tracy Allen, the city’s director of operations, said if it keeps snowing like it has been, the volume of snow dumped at Robert Service Way will surpass last winter.

“We are going non-stop on this,” the mayor said, adding that the snow removal budget of $4.5 million for this winter was boosted by $240,000.

Cabott announced the increase at Monday’s council meeting when she unveiled her operational budget for this year (see p. 3).

The additional funding, she said, will be used to provide more staff for snow removal.

Allen said Whitehorse residents can help the effort by not placing snow from their driveways on the street. They can also assist by moving vehicles off the street when snow-clearing crews are in the neighbourhood, she said.

When equipment operators have to manoeuvre around vehicles on the street, Allen said, it eats up precious time.

Working around vehicles can add up to 30 minutes to the job, she said. That can mean crews don’t have the time to move onto the next roadway on that shift.

City crews are working 24-7 on snow removal – although they don’t work Friday and Saturday nights, she said. Otherwise, she added, it’s been an around-the clock job for the 42 staffers who operate the gear for the maintenance and transportation department.

Allen noted crews can be pulled off snow removal if required to make repairs to broken water mains and such, as was the case recently in Riverdale.

Other than that, they’re moving snow, she said.

“We have everyone here and they are going flat-out,” said Allen. “In fact, over Christmas, when we had that big snowfall, some even came in off vacation.”

The director of operations noted that -35 C is the cutoff for snow removal. When it gets that cold, equipment starts breaking.

Allen said in addition to the regular city crews, three private contracting companies have been retained to assist.

The additional $240,000 will help them get caught up, she said.

Currently, said Allen, the city has 25 pieces of equipment used in snow removal – seven loaders, six graders, four Bobcats, five tandem dump trucks, three of which are equipped with graders, and two highway tractors that pull two dump boxes.

She said the city’s budget has money for a new loader and two new dump trucks, one of which will be equipped with a sander.

From what she understands, however, the delivery time for the new gear is going to be anywhere from nine months to a year, given how COVID-19 has affected the supply chain.

See letter.