With March kicking off, many Canadians are hoping frigid winter temperatures will finally begin to rise.
But even with the first day of spring around the corner, the mountains of ice that have piled up in many Maritime communities are so thick that they're expected to last after the weather warms.
In Halifax, the city has gone through thousands of tonnes of traction sand trying to combat slippery sidewalks. Still, emergency rooms are full of victims who slipped and fell, or lost traction and crashed their cars.
Roads are pockmarked with potholes and crusted with salt, and buildings are sagging under the weight of ice and snow.
"It doesn't matter if your roof is two years old or twenty years old, a good roof, a bad roof, it doesn't matter, we're having leaks on every roof," Craig Holgan, a commercial roofer in the city, told CTV News.
Meanwhile, in storm-battered Saint John, N.B., the city is trying to find a way to pay for what is expected to be the most expensive year of snow removal ever.
"Municipalities generally budget for an average winter with snow removal costs in a normal range. But for so many Maritime communities, this has been anything but a normal winter and the costs are becoming extraordinary," Saint John City Coun. Shirley McAlary said.
In early February, Saint John was forced to declare a state of emergency due to extreme winter weather conditions. The city is expected to apply for disaster relief from the province to help pay for the costs, but McAlary isn’t confident the money will come through. That could leave tax payers to foot the bill.
"All of us understand that it’s going to be way, way over budget," McAlary said.
It's not just infrastructure and budgets feeling the deep freeze. Residents around the region are also growing weary of winter.
"I certainly sympathize with all the residents out there and especially the pedestrians that are trying to get around in what are arguably the most challenging conditions we've seen in the last twenty years," Halifax City Works' Darrin Natalino said.
And as the weather begins to warm, there is another thing to start worrying about. Mountains of melting ice could cause damaging spring flooding, putting more strain on a region already hammered by winter weather.
With files from CTV News’ Atlantic Bureau Chief Todd Battis and CTV Atlantic
