(Image Credit: City of Prince Albert/Facebook)

By Teena Monteleone

'We're doing the best we can'

City snow-clearing crew working overtime in uphill battle

Feb 18, 2026 | 3:50 PM

After receiving 21 cm of heavy and blowing snow overnight, and with another 10 cm in the forecast, the City of Prince Albert’s single snow operation crew is “fighting the fight” according to the acting director of public works.

Tim Earing said the crews, which began work at 5 a.m., follow the city’s snow removal priority system, starting with major roadways and emergency streets. Transit routes in the city are cleared next, followed by school zones and downtown. However, when storms are continuous or closely follow one another, operations are repeated on the routes of highest priority until completed, before moving onto streets of a lesser priority.

“We’re having to go back just because of the snowfall accumulation,” Earing said.

Residential streets are last to be cleared and are typically only graded twice a year. If streets are impassable, residents have the opportunity to report the concern to the city through its website.

Prince Albert’s snow operations team consists of 13 crew members, four graders, five loaders, seven tandem trucks, one snow blower, and four sanders that maintain 285 kilometres of roads. They do not provide 24-hour snow removal.

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“They have to have time off at some point in time,” explained Earing. “They work overtime. When we have events like this, they work overtime as well as their earned days off – they’ll be working those days as well. So, functionally, unless we wanted to invest in more people, more staff, it wouldn’t really allow us to operate a 24-hour type of operation.”

Instead, the city brings in contractors when they’re available, but during a significant snowfall event like the one the province is currently experiencing, Earing said those contractors get busy too.

“We’re doing the best we can. We’ve had a number of complaints, but I’d also say that the staff have probably, this year, got the most amount of compliments…since I’ve been with the city anyway.”

Earing linked the accolades mostly to the first round of residential grading having been completed.

As far as the budget is concerned, the city is in good shape, at least for now. The total this year for snow and ice removal in Prince Albert sits at $1.7 million, but Earing said it’s hard to predict what the weather will do.

“If it [the snow] keeps continuing this every other day, we’ll have some issues. But with the surplus that we’re carrying over from last year, if we have a normal winter, we should be in pretty good shape.”

In the meantime, residents and visitors in Prince Albert are being asked to avoid parking on designated snow routes so city crews can conduct efficient snow clearing.

The parking ban, which came into effect at 9 a.m. Wednesday morning, requires drivers to immediately remove their vehicles from snow routes which are marked with permanent ‘No Parking When Declared’ signs.

Parkland Ambulance paramedics are also reminding drivers to give emergency responders space to move their vehicles, especially when they are displaying red lights and sirens.

“Our ambulance crews are parking in the middle of the residential streets when responding to emergencies to avoid being stuck. We recognize it may be frustrating for the public, but please be patient. We won’t be there long as we are responding to someone’s medical emergency,” said Parkland’s Lyle Karasiuk.

Environment Canada’s forecast suggested the low pressure system bringing all of this snow likely wouldn’t taper off until Thursday.

City Transit operating with limited service

Due to significant snowfall and resulting road conditions, Prince Albert Transit service is currently operating on a limited basis. As if 4 p.m., the following routes are running with modified service and reduced stops:

• West Hill
• East Flat
• All Day
• Rush Hour

The West Flat and East Hill routes are not in operation. The City said service will continue unless conditions worsen and it becomes unsafe to operate. Residents are encouraged to monitor the official City of Prince Albert Transit page for the most up-to-date information on route schedules and any further service changes.

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panews@pattisonmedia.com