City holds off on declaring snow emergency

Despite the declaration of a blizzard warning, city officials said they are waiting for additional information before declaring a snow emergency. Street officials said conflicting forecasts for snow totals have led them to hold back until it’s clear that the storm will bring at least four more inches. Mark Serbousek, Spokane’s street director, said street officials will watch the weather and forecasts and switch to its emergency plow schedule once its clearer that four inches will fall. Currently, the city is operating 26 snow-clearing vehicles during the day and 15 at night. Most of Monday morning’s snow fall was plowed from most of the city’s arterials during the day. Plows will concentrate on minor arterials this evening until a few inches fall and they switch back to main arterials, Serbousek said. Crews will use little or no deicer because the frigid temperatures makes it ineffective, Serbousek said.