The city has been blanketed in over 10cm of snow, the first snow storm of December.
Much of the snow came down during the Monday morning commute making for plenty of traffic headaches. Snow continued to fall until just before the afternoon drive.
A total of 95 collisions reported today since 5:00am. See winter driving tips at: https://t.co/21iT5IRqJm #drivesafe #BePatient #otttraffic
— Ottawa Police (@OttawaPolice) December 5, 2016
But, City of Ottawa snow clearing teams began their work at 3 a.m. by salting the main streets ahead of the snowfall.
Director of Road Services, Luc Gagne explained that the goal was to hit the arterial network and bus routes before making their way to residential streets.
"We'll get through that and it will be a continuous process through sidewalks, through bus stops, obviously making sure the arterial network is good for the afternoon commute."
By late morning, around 580 pieces of equipment were expected to be out on the roads cleaning up.
Gagne said that it was going to be a very long day and that the night crew would be in by 7 p.m. to clean up any of the smaller streets that needed to be cleared.
"I think this snow is here to stay, based on what we see for temperatures going forward," he said.