HASTINGS, Neb. – The Hastings City Streets department is preparing its winter operations with several inches of snow possible this weekend. 

Officials want the public to know the process and hierarchy of how snow crews remove snow from streets when snow falls.

According to a city news release, the City Streets Department has 509 lane miles for snow removal – including 47 cul-de-sacs.

The Street Department receives assistance from other city departments as well as contractors (when available) to complete snow removal.

Keys to the snow removal plan include equipment, routes, operators, spotters, contractors and coordination with other departments and other institutions.

The time frame for snow removal includes at least 5 hours for material spreading during light snow.

Plowing emergency snow routes takes 8-12 hours.?All emergency snow routes are marked with a sign, and during a snow emergency, parking is not allowed on these streets.

The timeframe for snow removal depends on the amount of snow, type of snow, timing of snow, future snow forecast, winds, assistance from other city departments and availability of contractors. This also means snow phase priorities can change.

There are four phases of snow removal:

Phase 1 – Material spreading sand/salt in intersections, inclined areas, steep grades, around schools, and where needed.

Phase 2 – Plowing all emergency snow routes and continued material spreading. Phase 2 is a snow removal emergency declaration (usually the snow is at least 3 inches but could be less if there is a lot of wind and drifting snow). The mayor declares the snow emergency.

Phase 3 – Downtown snow removal - Burlington Avenue to Minnesota Avenue (between First Street and Fifth Street). This is the Central Business District and with no storage area for snow and limited drainage, the snow is plowed and then picked up and hauled away.

Phase 4 – Residential snow removal: Snow plowing and material spreading throughout the entire town. Parking lot clean up.

The public can follow snow removal efforts using the snow removal tracker available on the snow removal page at cityofhastings.org

The map will show active snow removal vehicles and their approximate locations within 30 minutes, where the snow removal vehicles have been during the last 12 hours in green, the last 12-24 hours in blue, the last 24-48 hours in orange and more than 48 hours in red.

The map does not show where the vehicles are going, but users can tell where they have been.

Snow removal information is also available in a project at the city’s informational platform, EngageHastings.

The National Weather Service has Hastings at the far northwest edge of a Winter Storm Watch scheduled from Saturday evening to Sunday afternoon. 

Latest reports say anywhere between five to 10 inches of snow is possible in the area.