KITCHENER -- The cities of Kitchener, Waterloo, and Cambridge have declared snow events and are asking any vehicles parked on the roads to be removed by midnight.

The majority of Southern Ontario saw 15-25 cm of snowfall on Sunday which sparked the decision by the tri-cities that allows for proper road clearing.

The snow event also means that any street parking will be banned for 24 hours in the three cities.

Waterloo Region drivers were also lining up to get snow tires put on their vehicles during the significant snowfall.

“I’ve always wanted to get it done earlier, it just didn’t work out this year,” said Geoff Genzle. “I procrastinated because of the warm weather and now here I am.”

Nathan Howie, the assistant manager of Mr. Lube in Kitchener, notes that the forecast almost perfectly projects how many customers they get.

“Snow flies and we get busy, real busy,” said Nathan Howie. “With the forecast that we’ve had with the snow this morning we knew it was coming, so yesterday we were about the same we were at times, upwards of 13 cars waiting outside.”

He adds that he also runs standard battery tests to make sure the car is healthy.

CAA recommends drivers have this test run, especially if they haven’t thought about their battery in a while.

“We’ve seen over the last three years and increase in the amount of battery-related calls,” said CAA representative Tony Tsai.

A total of 354,480 battery-related cars were reported last year by CAA, a 34 per cent increase over the last two years.

Tsai says he expects the number to go up this year.

“It really has to do with weather, because we’ve been having really hot summers and cold winters,” he said. “Also this year, because so many of us haven’t been driving as much because of the pandemic, your vehicle may not be holding its charge.”

Tsai adds that drivers should be on the lookout for warning signs like grinding noises while starting, stalling when driving, and lights dimming while idling.

“Those are all signs that your battery might need to be replaced,” he said.

The CAA is reminding drivers to also practice safe driving when out on snow-covered streets.