Staff recommend year-round winter operations unit following review of Toronto's February snowstorm response
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.
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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.'
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