Weird weather – rain then snow – made plowing difficult
By Ed Nadolski
Editor in Chief
Normally a double-digit snowfall in January is just another day in a Wisconsin winter.
But, on Monday, the Burlington area experienced unseasonably warm temperatures and thundershowers a few scant hours before getting buried under nearly 10 inches of snow early Tuesday morning.
It went from rain, to sleet to snow – much more than was predicted – in a period of about six hours.
“We were expecting 1 to 2 inches – maybe 4, tops – but we got a lot more than that,” City Administrator Carina Walters said Tuesday.
City crews measured 9.5 inches of snow as of 9 a.m. Tuesday at the city’s wastewater treatment plant. That amount is typically rounded up to 10 inches for weather reporting purposes, according to new Public Works Director Peter Riggs.
Riggs said the unexpected amount of snow and the out-of-the-ordinary nature of the weather event created a difficult situation for city crews tasked with keeping the streets clear.
“The rain washed away any chloride that we had down, so the snow immediately bonded to the pavement,” he said.
The wet, heavy snow quickly created what road crews call hardpack.
“It’s difficult to remove without a lot of salt and chemicals,” Riggs said.
On top of that, the snow fell at a rate of several inches an hour for a period after midnight, making it tough for plowing crews to keep up.
To read the full story, including Riggs’ view of the plowing performance, see the Jan. 25 edition of the Burlington Standard Press.
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