Why would the City declare a Significant Weather Event?

When a municipality declares a significant weather event, the declaration suspends the standard timelines required for municipalities to meet their winter maintenance objectives until the municipality declares the significant weather event has ended. During the course of a declared significant weather event, the standard for addressing winter maintenance is to monitor the weather and to deploy resources to address the issue starting from the time the municipality deems it appropriate to do so. When the municipality has declared the event has ended, the standard timelines for winter maintenance activities will begin.