The snow fall on Thanksgiving long weekend was a reminder that winter is coming and the city crews are preparing.

The City of Airdrie Public Works department has the street sweepers still out cleaning the main roads and some residential areas before parking them for the year and bringing out the snow plows.

"We're kind of in the midst of almost finished with the sweepers in the fall and getting ready for the winter operations. We're kind of in that shoulder season, so we haven't parked the sweepers, yet," said Mike Avramenko, roads team lead with the Public Works department.

To ensure the roads are safe for us during the harsh winter months, Avramenko said the city uses a combination of sanding stones and ice to combat the snow.

"We use a 6mm sanding chip, which is a fractured stone. In conjunction, we'll use salt and when we get the temperatures that go down below -20, we'll go into a calcium chloride; a derivative of salt."

Although the plows aren't scheduled to begin until October 21, Public Works is always prepared.

"We normally run when we get rolling with our winter shift schedule. We have people in place for weekend and night coverage 24/7," said Avramenko.