Heavy snow surprises county crews

Jana Mathia, Gazette Reporter | Dec 21, 20170

Road crews were mobilized over the weekend, despite the early prediction plowing would not be needed for a light snow Friday.

“We didn’t really expect that much snow,” said Mark Storey, Whitman County public works director.

Storey told commissioners Monday morning that the county had not planned to mobilize snow plows after hearing the forecast for only one inch of snow.

“When we know we’re going to get six inches, we mobilize,” he told them.

He pointed out to the Gazette his department tries not to spend money it does not need to, so a prediction of one inch of snow with warm weather to follow did not rouse concern. The county figures its regular drivers can handle two to three inches of snow without wind drifting.

When the snow surpassed one inch and kept multiplying, the department mobilized crews, but was not able to activate drivers as it could have with forewarning.

For the past six months the department has been struggling to fill positions for drivers. Storey said they are still short-handed, but starting to catch up.

When plowing, public works prioritizes the order of which roads to clear first. In addition to the main paved roads, drifting around Steptoe Butte, Garfield and Palouse brought plows to those areas. Storey said supervisors drive around in trucks to look for problem areas to address.

An added concern arose when the temperature went up and snow turned to slush on the gravel roads. Storey noted that with really slushy snow like there was Monday, they worry about plowing off gravel as well. With the soft slush it is harder for the county drivers to gauge where to set the plow’s edge.

In 2008, which was the most costly for snow removal on record, the county spent more than $1 million on snow removal. Storey estimated there was an additional $200,000 to $300,000 worth of rock lost from plowing the gravel roads.