Winter storm warning in effect for Montreal area

Winter weatheris finally here.

A winter storm warning is in effect for the areas of Montreal, Laval,LongueuilandChteauguay.

Snowfall is expected to start Monday night and last until Wednesday morning.

The storm is expected to bring in anywhere from 20 to 35 centimetres of snow.

Centralized snow-removal plan

The storm will be the first big testfor the City of Montreal'snew centralizedsnow-removal policy, which Mayor Denis Coderre unveiled in August.

The new policy has the City of Montreal taking on a bigger role in removing snow in order to improve coordination across the city's 19 boroughs.

• Montreal's newsnow-removal measures

A centralized snow removal policy will synchronize operations in each borough in order to ensure comparable service is delivered across the city.

The city will order boroughs to clear snow after 10 centimetres of accumulation.

Boroughs will have 12 hours to begin clearing snow and 36 hours to complete operations on main arteries.

Boroughs that don't followthe city's orders will face financial repercussions.

Info-Neige app and bike paths

Residents in 18 of the city's 19boroughs (L'le-BizardSainte-Genevive is the exception)will be ableto use theInfo-Neige mobile application, which is linkedto GPS-trackedsnow-clearing equipment.

The app's map shows cleared roads in green, roads where clearing is in progress in purple, and roads that have yet to be cleared in red.

The storm will also test out the city's new commitment to clear 395 kilometres of bike paths at the same time as the roads.

The city's Vlo 4 Saisons map will be updated to reflect the routes that will be cleared.