Here are three photos taken of three very different situations but all had similar problems.  Poor choices in reaction to public demand from residents, individuals taking matters into their own hands, and a total lack of respect for the power of a winter storm led to numerous liabilities for the rest of the season.  These pictures were taken in February after a strong storm had again closed roads everywhere.  Each could have been prevented or minimized by responsible snow management policy.  Decisions were made with little or no regard to the long term effects of actions taken, reacting to phone calls complaining that there was snow on the roads and the plow hasn't been out yet.  It takes a stong Department leader to withstand this kind of pressure and keep a cool head.  On other pages on this site you will find examples of good snow management practices from seasons since 1997 as well as the important role other factors play in preventing drifts from starting.  By preventing drifts, roads are far more likely to remain driveable with minimal plow action.  By handling snow early in the season by plowing all snow to the south and east sides of roadways, wind driven snow continues across roads with no accumulation problems that quickly turn into major problems before Spring.

Shown here is a westbound view of what happens when you plow too much.  This route was critical to mail and bus routes, and was plowed 5 times prior to mid December.  The snow was split at the center of the road with a V and then pushed to each side with the blade and wing.  Lighter snow situations were done with a one-way truck mounted plow, again dividing the snow at road crown and taking it to either side.  Both methods were flawed as we never anticipated the obvious.  In Buffalo County, the strongest winds always blow from the north.  In 1997 we had over 20 snow events accompanied by strong winds.  One lone event that winter was a south wind, and was mild in comparison with the north winded storms that topped 60 mph three different times.  What we did was make the ultimate snow fence adjacent to the road we were trying to prevent snow from blocking.  We became keenly aware of just how much snow you can accumulate when you think you can stop snow from going over your road.  The volume of snow that moves across a clear road is never known.  When you set up a barrier to that movement, this is what how much snow you can capture.  Obviously this Man Vs Nature was easily won by Nature.  It is 100 times more difficult to oppose winter than it is to work with this awesome force to use its power to your advantage.  This involves knowing all the things NOT to do, as well as establishing limits and standard policies that aid in determining thresholds for action, and a seasonal viewpoint of the process to prevent this from happening again.

Here is one picture showing both what works and what does not in wide open areas prone to drifting. The view looking north shows the contrasting difference between wind cleared roadway and where snow had been plowed aside and became a liability until Spring.  This road was plowed every time it snowed, and prior to the series of blizzards was wide open.  Only once was snow more than a few inches deep, but complaints from local residents influenced action when it should have been left alone.  Locals even took a stab at clearing a path with tractor scoops a couple times.  One time was in the middle of a two day blizzard and this poor choice of action left the road with deep snow burying the roadway.  By this point we plowed it open, but in less than a week it had blown full again and was then closed until Spring.  Without the plowed furrows of snow the whole roadway would have blown clean storm after storm, as it did in the foregound, where no plowing was done.  Only where snow had been plowed early or amatuer efforts aggrivated matters did we have problems. 

This photo shows one of our roads that the local resident kept plowing with a farm tractor any time it snowed.  Soon there was a mountain of snow pushed up on both sides of the road.  When the real storms occured this area quickly blew full requiring large loaders to be hired to push the snow back over fences in huge piles to reopen.  In retrospect had nothing been done early on the area would have blown clean but instead with the hindering piles placed to the north of the road created 8 feet of snow across the road requiring massive effort to clear.  It is notable that the operator that cleared this road moved all of the snow to the south side of the road.  The cut remained manageable the rest of the season, but did get very soft in spring due to the mass of snow around it saturating the subgrade and shoulders as it melted away.