A2 snow emergency declared

Ann Arbor in January has not seen this much snow since 1899, and the city is responding.

Yesterday, the Public Services Department for the city of Ann Arbor declared a snow emergency, effective Saturday, Jan. 16.

Essentially, a snow emergency dictates that on days with even dates, such as this Saturday, Jan. 16, vehicles parked on the side of the street having even street numbers will be towed. Likewise, on days with odd dates, such as this Sunday, Jan. 17, vehicles are prohibited from parking on the side of the street having odd street numbers.

Declaring a snow emergency in Ann Arbor is a very rare event, said Bill Wheeler, director of Public Services for the City of Ann Arbor.

DANA LINNANE/Daily LSA senior and Gargoyle editor John Wambaugh and LSA sophomore Carolyn Jones get crazy in the snow to promote the return of the Gargoyle humor magazine to campus.

"The most recent one I can remember was in 1978," Wheeler said.

On Monday, Jan.18, however, the snow emergency will be lifted for Martin Luther King Day.

The city will be placing fliers on the windshields of vehicles parked in restricted areas to inform drivers of the snow emergency.

For the past 30 years, 13 and a half inches of snow is normal for January, said University meteorologist Dennis Kahlbaum. As of yesterday morning, 28.2 inches of snow has fallen on Ann Arbor this month.

Larry Pickel, Ann Arbor City Building Department director, said the responsibility of snow removal falls in the hands of two main divisions.

The City of Ann Arbor Building Department enforces removal around residential areas, such as apartment sidewalks.

In the city streets and other public areas, the transportation department takes care of the snow removal.

After normal snow falls, the transportation department's goal is to clear pathways within 24 hours, said Mike Fritz, one of the department's street maintenance aces and supervisors.

Now, their primary goal is to simply plow enough of the snow to allow for work and emergency routes, Fritz said.

Fritz added that when time permits, the city removes the remainder of the snow.

"The guys here have been working around the clock for two weeks," Fritz said. "These guys are whipped, they need a rest."

"This is the worst I've seen it in 26 years," Fritz said.

The University Grounds Department has been blocking off roads to remove snow late at night for the past week.

Fifteen-feet mounds of snow at Elbel Field and a site across from Fuller and Mitchell fields on North Campus are the result of the grounds department's late-night work.

"It's complicated as far as organizing the ventures among the university, private firms and governmental departments," said Mike Gaubatz, assistant manager of Grounds & Waste Management.

Gaubatz also commented on the seemingly everlasting snow removal.

"This sort of work is usually pretty thankless," Gaubatz said. "Many of these guys are working 80 hour weeks."

The abnormal amounts of snow have effected other businesses too.

"In the last two weeks, we've been through four to five hundred shovels, easily," said a Meijer team member in hardware. "The shovels are completely out of stock right now and we've had to order more. This usually doesn't happen."

The Meijer team member added all snow-related stocks are low, including salt, ice melters, car washing fluid and scrapers.

Local ski areas are basking in the extreme amount of natural snow falls, said Joe Bruhn, general manager of Mt. Brighton Ski Area.

Katina Coward, office manager at Arbor Building Service Inc., a local snow-removal company, said "it's like having a year's worth of work per day, lately."

A change of weather is coming this Friday, Kahlbaum said.

Unlike the new snow accumulation from last night, the warmer weather coming this weekend should aid the efforts of the snow emergency, Wheeler said.

On account of mother nature's grand snow fall, unusual events are being witnessed.

Cross country skiiers have been reported on Hill Street.

Some mischievous students are taking advantage of the cold weather by stealing University equipment to allegedly participate in winter sport activity.

"I've caught some people trying to steal meal trays," said Jennifer Abe, a student supervisor at South Quad Residence Hall cafeteria.

INFOG:

Listing of city streets involved in snow emergency, January 15-21:

Listing of downtown area streets to be cleared January 13, 14, 15 (parking will not be permitted on these streets, all meters will be bagged.):

01-13-99