The New York City Department of Sanitation (DSNY) has issued a Snow Alert for Sunday, beginning at 1 a.m.

A Snow Alert is the Department’s “higher level” snow-fighting notification, as opposed to the “lower level” Winter Operations Advisory.

DSNY says preparations for this storm are well underway and will continue through the weekend:

– DSNY began applying brine to highways, streets, and bike lanes starting Friday morning. This is a liquid salt solution the Department frequently uses before some storms to help prevent snow and ice accumulations on roadways.

– Sanitation Workers are working to affix plows and chains to all DSNY collection trucks, transforming them into snow plows.

– Roughly 2,000 Sanitation Workers will be on every 12-hour shift beginning Saturday evening and continuing through the duration of the event.

– With 700 million pounds of salt on hand, DSNY will have 700 salt spreaders filled and prepositioned, ready to spread salt at the first sign of snowflakes.

– Plows will begin operating when two inches of snow accumulate, which mayhappen as early as 9 a.m. Sunday. Residents will be able to track the progress of DSNY snow removal vehicles at nyc.gov/PlowNYC. Remember, a plowed or salted street will not show blacktop right away.

– Many New Yorkers rely on bike lanes to get to work or, in the case of delivery personnel, to do their work. DSNY has dozens of bike lane plows ready to service these areas at the sametime as car lanes.

– DSNY’s snow-fighting operations will be tracked via DSNY’s state-of-the-art BladeRunner2.0 system from our command center, meaning snow equity for all New Yorkers. Every street is on a route, and every route is dispatched at once.

Snow Clearing Information

While DSNY clears streets and bike lanes, property owners are responsible for clearing sidewalks. As a reminder, property owners and car owners may NOT push snow into the street, including bike lanes. This impedes snow clearing operations and is illegal. Snow may be moved against the building, to the curb line, or areas on private property. Sidewalks should be passable for all pedestrians, including a minimum 4-foot clear path, where possible.

If the snow stops falling between:

7 a.m. and 5 p.m., property owners must clear sidewalks within 4 hours
5 p.m. and 9 p.m., property owners must clear sidewalks within 14 hours
9 p.m. and 7 a.m., property owners must clear sidewalks by 11 a.m.

Property owners with Empire Bins are responsible for clearing snow and ice from the Empire Bin to facilitate collection.

All winter weather information and information about the City’s response to the storm can be found by visiting the City’s Severe Weather website at nyc.gov/snowor by calling 311.

New Yorkers are also encouraged to sign up for NotifyNYC, the City’s free emergency notification system, available in 14 languages including ASL. Through NotifyNYC, New Yorkers can sign up to receive phone calls, text messages, and email alerts about severe weather events and emergencies. To sign up for NotifyNYC, call 311, visit nyc.gov/notifyor follow @NotifyNYC.