The city of Toronto has announced it will begin towing cars parked on snowy side streets to allow plows to properly clean the roads.

The ambitious move comes ahead of another weather system that could dump as much as 20 centimetres of snow on Sunday.

"We need to act now to boost our efforts in advance of the snow that is yet to come," Mayor David Miller said at a press conference on Friday morning.

"Continued cold temperatures and the forecast for more snow makes this additional operation critical in some areas of the city."

Crews are still trying to clean busy side streets after last Friday's storm, but vehicles parked on the road has made the job difficult. The situation has also turned many two-way streets into a one-way street, which has caused residents headaches.

One snow removal worker said some residents and motorists have expressed anger at city employees.

"It's basically near-physical altercations," the worker said. "People are getting frustrated, and I sympathize with them."

Miller said the snowed-in vehicles have also affected the accessibility for emergency and waste collection vehicles. He said the snow removal plan is "necessary to protect public safety."

Residents are being asked to clean the snow around their cars and move the vehicles off the streets. Starting Friday, people will be notified by flyers when their street will be cleaned.

On roads where parking is only allowed on one side, plows will remove snow on the opposite side and then ask residents to move their vehicles to the other side.

If the cars are not moved, they will be towed to a nearby spot and returned to the same area after the streets are cleaned

Residents will not be ticketed or charged for the tow, city officials said.

The city will be quadrupling the number of snow removal crews -- from 20 to 83 -- over the next 10 to 14 days to properly clean side streets, Transportation Services general manager Gary Welsh said.

Two weather systems are heading toward Toronto, which could result in freezing rain or between 15 and 20 centimetres of snow on Sunday, CTV Toronto weather reporter Tom Brown says.

With a report from CTV Toronto's Austin Delaney