Winnipeggers may have a noticed City of Winnipeg crews clearing snow from a higher angle than motorists are used to seeing following Thursday’s blast of winter.

“Following Thursday's weather event which involved high winds, freezing temperatures, freezing rain and wet snow, City crews cleaned traffic signal lights at some intersections throughout the city that were partially obscured by snow frozen to the lens,” said a city spokesperson in an email to CTV News.

Schell Stanley said he was driving to Winnipeg from Beausejour for an appointment on Thursday when he noticed snow stuck on traffic lights going south on Lagimodière Boulevard.

“It was not safe. The red shone through relatively decently, but yellow did not, nor did the green,” said Stanley.

“The snow being stuck to the lights made those higher speed intersections along Lagimodière potentially very unsafe,” he said.

The city said with Winnipeg’s dry winters, this type of event seldom happens. “Snow on our signals indicators usually melts the same day,” said a city spokesperson.

The city said if motorists encounter a traffic light partially obscured by snow, they should slow down, use extreme caution and treat the intersection like a four-way stop if required.

Switch to LED and snow clearing

The city said it started replacing incandescent bulbs to LED bulbs in the 1990's, and the conversion was completed in 2015, but they don’t melt snow. There are now 16,723 total LED bulbs.

The spokesperson said the cost to clear snow from the lights comes out of the traffic signals operating budget and is part of the general responsibilities of the traffic signals crews. Some overtime costs were incurred to conduct the work.

“Over the years, the city has replaced traffic signal bulbs with LED bulbs which are not as hot and do not melt the snow as the previous bulbs did,” said a city spokesperson.

“Crews cleaned the traffic signals, prioritizing high speed intersections first in the southbound direction.”

The city said crews completed clearing snow from traffic lights Saturday.

The city there are benefits to using LED bulbs. It said they last four years longer and consume 85 per cent less power compared to incandescent bulbs. The city said it’s also saving maintenance and operating costs with the LED bulbs compared to incandescent bulbs.