Despite a blast of snow yesterday, warm weather continues melting Swift Current's frostier layers.

This has led to city crews switching from focusing on snow removal, to ensuring drainage points are clear for the water. 

Mitch Minken, general manager of infrastructure and operations for the City of Swift Current, describes how the sunshine has allowed them to get ahead of curve.

"We've started already doing some steaming to open up catch basins as the melts have been coming," said Minken. "That's kind of our next activity, is making sure that we get those drains opened up so that any water accumulating can get away."

At the start of this winter season, city crews were pressed hard to keep up with the snow. First, in October, a blizzard blanketed Swift Current in an early coat of snow. Later on, the snow kept coming into December, and by Christmas, crews were already burning through the year's supply of sand for city roads.

"We've used a lot of sand this year," acknowledged Minken. "We've used a whole year's worth of sand in this first part of the year. It's been a challenge."

Since New Year's, the conditions have inverted so completely that Minken's team has caught up with scraping even the residential areas back down to the pavement.

"We're almost through the whole cleaning up of the residential areas," said Minken. "We've managed to peal most of that surface off, which is going to help us a lot as the warmer weather comes."

Going forwards, Minken is remaining vigilant against the forecast despite recent stretches.

"It was great to get this break," said Minken. "But I'm sure that there's going to be one more dump before spring comes."