DSNY Issues Winter Operations Advisory for Saturday, January 11 at 12:01 a.m.

January 10, 2025

While little more than an inch is expected, sustained cold means it will stick – New York's Strongest brining and salting to keep streets passable

While little more than an inch is expected, sustained cold means it will stick – New York's Strongest brining and salting to keep streets passable

The New York City Department of Sanitation (DSNY) has issued a Winter Operations Advisory for Saturday, January 11, 2025, beginning at 12:01 a.m. and continuing until 7:00 p.m. A Winter Operations Advisory is the Department's "lower level" snow-fighting notification, as opposed to the "higher level" Snow Alert.

Current forecasts suggest that precipitation will begin some time after 3:00 a.m. and that the City is unlikely to receive much more than an inch of snow early Saturday morning, but with several days of below-freezing temperatures behind us, all of this snow is likely to stick to the ground, creating a risk of hazardous conditions if not properly addressed.

As such, DSNY is pre-treating roadways and bike lanes with brine today, Friday. Brine helps prevent icing conditions before they form. Beginning midnight Saturday, the Department will transition to salt spreading operations, and thousands of Sanitation Workers will be on 12-hour shifts to ensure adequate staffing both for brine and salt operations and for continued collection of trash, recyclables, and compostable material.

More than 700 salt spreaders are filled and ready to go, and the Department has approximately 700 million pounds of salt on hand, a historically high wintertime headcount, and new high-tech ways of tracking snow operations.

New Yorkers should know: DSNY is working to ensure your safety. Do your part both for yourself and for the Strongest by staying off the roads or, if you absolutely must drive, by doing so slowly, safely, and carefully.

In a snow event, New York City's Sanitation Workers cover our streets, highways, and bike lanes, but all residents should remember that clearing snow from sidewalks is the property owners' responsibility. Property owners must to do their part to make sure that the sidewalks are passable.

Additional information about the City's winter weather response is available at nyc.gov/snow.

Operations Update

Thanks to historic investments in DSNY, the Department's Workers and equipment are more prepared for winter weather than ever before.

Every street is on a route, and unlike in past years, every route can be dispatched at the same time, bringing equity in snow clearance to the entire City. Thanks to historic investments in DSNY, bike lanes will also be serviced simultaneously alongside car lanes. DSNY will be tracking these operations via the new Bladerunner 2.0 platform.

In the unlikely event that a plowable depths of 2" or more are reached, 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.

Trash/Recycling Collection

There is no change to DSNY collection or to bin requirements at this time.

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.

The fine for failure to clear sidewalks is $100 for the first offense, $150 for the second offense and $250 for the third offense.

Alternate Side Parking

Alternate Side Parking rules are suspended tomorrow, Saturday, January 11, to facilitate winter weather operations.

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 emails alerts about severe weather events and emergencies. To sign up for Notify NYC, call 311, visit nyc.gov/notify or follow @NotifyNYC on Twitter.

Find information on Sanitation snow operations along with residents' responsibilities during and after snow at nyc.gov/snow.