Sudbury received 36% less snow last winter, leads to budget surplus

Driven by the extraordinarily warm winter, the city is reporting a $1.69 million surplus for winter 2023-2024, which includes data from June 2023 to February 2024. (File)

After routinely running in the red for several winters, Greater Sudbury’s winter control budget is boasting a healthy surplus.

Driven by the extraordinarily warm winter, the city is reporting a $1.69 million surplus for winter 2023-2024, which includes data from June 2023 to February 2024.

The city budgeted $9,281,678 for that period but spent only $7,592,351.

“The actual year-to-date result may differ from these estimates as certain estimates were necessary to account for outstanding invoices,” said a staff report headed to the operations committee May 21.

The entire winter up until the end of February only saw five major snow events – including none in December and two each in January and February.

In terms of the hard winter months, the city received 34.8 per cent less snow in November, 75 per cent less snow in December and 50.4 per cent less snow in February. Only January had more snow than usual – 74.9 cm compared to the 10-year average of 72.1 per cent.

Sudbury normally receives 65.1 cm of snow in December, but last year just 16.3 cm fell for the entire month.

Read the full report here.

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