Snow alert issued as Sioux Falls clears streets

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — Plows are on the streets and a snow alert has been issued the city of Sioux Falls.

As of 3 p.m., around 2.5 inches had fallen at the Sioux Falls airport and areas of Sioux Falls could see up to 5 inches by the end of the night Monday.

“I would say things are going fairly well, considering,” said Sioux Falls Street Operations Manager Dustin Hansen on Monday afternoon. “We’ve got quite a few operators in who are covering our emergency routes.”

Snowy Monday impacting Sioux Falls area

You can follow the snow alert updates on the city’s real-time snow alert map. Plowing in Zone 3 will begin after midnight Tuesday. All streets in Zone 3 will be lowed and vehicles parked on public streets in Zone 3 are subject to ticketing and towing until all streets have been plowed.

For Zone 2 streets, north/south streets will start being plowed at 8 a.m. Tuesday, while east/west streets will start being plowed at 8 p.m. Tuesday. Zone 1 snow pickup operations will start on Thursday and ticketing and towing will happen between the hours of 1 a.m. and 6 a.m. Thursday.

Hansen says the snow is plowing well this time around and it is on the drier side, as far as snow goes. It has been a slow winter relative to snow removal and Hansen said this can create some issues with readiness.

When it comes to equipment that hasn’t been used much, he says issues can always pop up, but that the city has a fleet team working 24-hour shifts to manage any mechanical issues.

The other hiccup could come from newer operators who have been missing out on real-world experiences.

“I would say probably our biggest concern is probably our new operators, just in the sense of if it’s their first year or maybe second or even third year, we just haven’t had a lot of fall snow events to get them experience,” Hansen said. “The best learning experience is actually being in the machine plowing the streets with real snow.”

While this isn’t a huge problem, as the city pairs newer operators up with more seasoned drivers on each route, it can lead to a bit of a slower process for clearing streets as newer drivers work through things and shake off the nerves.

As for drivers, Hansen advises increased caution, especially at night when temperatures may dip low enough that the anti-ice chemicals the city uses may struggle to be effective.

“Overall, be safe, slow down, pay attention to the road and stay off your phones,” he said.