Mayor Linda Gorton is seeking bids from contractors who can provide emergency snow and ice removal services after Winter Storm Fern paralyzed city streets for nearly two weeks.
City officials reported that Winter Storm Fern’s most serious impact stretched from Jan. 24 to Feb. 3. An extended period of bitter cold kept air and ground temperatures extremely low, rendering rock salt largely ineffective.
It is estimated that salt was ineffective 47% of the time — temperatures must be above 15 degrees for salt to work. Between 15 and 20 degrees, an additional 21% of the time, the rock salt provided only sluggish melting, according to officials…