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Until January ice storm hit, Canton and Potsdam DPW crews had time on their hands, worked on other projects

Posted 1/21/12

By MAUREEN PICHÉ Up until the treacherous ice and snow in St. Lawrence County ten days ago, Canton and Potsdam highway superintendents had experienced such an easy winter their employees were …

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Until January ice storm hit, Canton and Potsdam DPW crews had time on their hands, worked on other projects

Posted

By MAUREEN PICHÉ

Up until the treacherous ice and snow in St. Lawrence County ten days ago, Canton and Potsdam highway superintendents had experienced such an easy winter their employees were spending their time on projects other than plowing.

But that all changed on Jan. 12 when St. Lawrence County schools were closed for two days in a row due to the treacherous weather conditions.

But until then, about one-third of the typical winter weather season has already passed. Canton Village Superintendent of Public Works Brien Hallahan said in the six years he’s worked as superintendent, it had been the mildest winter by far.

“Obviously, things have been going pretty well,” said Hallahan before the storm hit. “We’ve used significantly less salt and we’ve used significantly less overtime.”

He noted “it’s ordinary to have two or three days of freezing rain in December, but we escaped it this year.”

Hallahan suggests the lack of precipitation might have something to do with all the rain we received in May and June of 2011—Mother Nature trying to level out the average annual precipitation.

While he didn’t have exact figures, Hallahan said short of a big change in weather patterns, the department could end the season with some extra money and supplies, which would be held in contingency for next year.

Bruce Henderson, Potsdam Village Superintendent of Public Works, was happy about the light December weather, but he wasn’t not ready to relax. “Talk to me in April,” he joked before the storm arrived Jan. 12.

Henderson said, from past experience, he’s not prepared to say this is a mild winter until buds are blossoming on the trees.

“The majority of the snow typically falls in January and February and the first week or so of March,” he explained.

What Henderson has noticed is an increase in the need to keep public walkways sanded. What little snow we have received has been melting in the daytime and freezing up again at night, making things dangerous.

Already, he said his crews have had to sand the downtown sidewalks three times, while in recent years, they might sand three times the whole season.

By his recollection, the winter of 2008-09 was the mildest in recent history, while the year before was one of the worst with about 140 inches of precipitation.

Meanwhile, crews are not sitting idly by, both superintendents said.

Canton workers have been cleaning out a storage building and working on the sewers, among several jobs, Hallahan said.

Henderson said his team has been kept busy handling the six water line breaks that have already occurred this year.

“And there’s lots of shop maintenance,” he said. “There’s always something to do.”