The head of Public Works in Steinbach says city streets look almost like they do in early spring with lots of gravel and grit on the surface. Randy Reimer says that's because of the early arrival of winter weather last month.

"The early snowfalls in November, a lot of them were light so they weren't really enough to warrant a complete city-wide clean-up. We plowed some of our collector streets on some of those snowfalls but, as a result of it packing down and colder temperatures overnight, we wound up having to put a little more sand down than we would have liked to. So now, with the milder temperatures over this last week now, it's showing up and almost looks like a spring condition."

Reimer adds he's not worried about the amount of sand they have had to use so early in the season noting it usually averages out over the course of each winter.

Meanwhile, Reimer says there are some things homeowners can do right now to aid snow clearing crews during the winter.

"If people have any type of shrubbery or anything that's lower down on their boulevards, it's a good idea to put some kind of marker on it that's two or three feet high so that we have an idea that there's something there once the snow starts falling and piling up on the boulevards. Also , if they've got curbs along the sides of their driveways, put up a marker so that we're aware of it when we're cleaning windrows."

Reimer also reminds us not to park on the street after a significant snowfall until the street has been plowed.