Winter Weather Advisories

As Luther digs out of Tuesday and Wednesday’s blizzard, students are bracing for winter to be cold, snowy and icy, with blizzards and biting winds. However, with the appropriate supplies and optimism to face the harsh winter weather, the winter can be not only tolerable but also fun.

First and foremost comes warm winter apparel. Everyone needs a warm jacket or coat, appropriate shoes, particularly ones that have some grip on snowy and icy paths, gloves and a scarf or a hat to cover your ears from the harsh wind blowing from the North Pole.

Facilities Services tries to remove most snow and ice from the streets and sidewalks on campus, so people should be safe walking from one place to another, unless they are in a hurry and take a shorter route through some snow.

According to Manager of Environmental Services Gary Brickman, students should try to avoid this tendency. Instead, they ought to take the sidewalk to get from one destination to another, especially during snowstorms.

Facilities Services’ first priority when there is a lot of snow accumulation or an ice storm is to make sure the food trucks get to Luther campus and to the Union. Then, they try to clear up the sidewalks by the time students have to go to class.

“When it does snow and there is a lot of accumulation out there, we have a lot more people than grounds, so we get the carpenters and the trades people and try to shovel as many sidewalks as fast as we can,” Director of Facilities Rich Tenneson said. “It’s kind of a group effort.”

Vehicle problems are another aspect of the Midwestern winter, be it difficulty getting your car started or having to remove a layer of frost from your windshield. Facilities can clean parking stalls that are unoccupied and can perhaps remove snow around the ones that are occupied.

However, if a vehicle remains parked in one spot continuously for several hours on a snowy day, a ridge of snow and ice forms behind the vehicle, making it hard to move from its place later.

Brickman would advise students, faculty and staff to park in a parking stall that has already been cleared up and use the buckets full of sand and salt that Facilities puts out in parking lots if they face trouble moving their vehicle. In addition, store an ice scraper in your trunk or under your front seat. If you are not able to start your vehicle, Security can assist by calling them at 2111. Facilities can also provide help in such circumstances.

Facilities has a weather radar in their office, and they try to monitor weather and give out notifications whenever the weather is going to be bad. If you are planning on driving in cold and snowy weather, make sure you check the weather radar first online or from local radio and television stations.

Stock your car with a flashlight, a blanket, some non-perishable food and water and a shovel, and carry a fully charged cell-phone just in case you get snowed in on the way to your destination.

Winter might be a little troublesome, but keep in mind that snow and ice can be beautiful. There are also days, crisp and clear, when it is a joy to wrap up, get outside and go to one of the coffee shops downtown for a cup of hot cocoa. Or one can go have fun sledding, snow boarding, cross-country skiing or just crunching through the snow.

As Victor Hugo said, “Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face.” If you make the effort to enjoy the snow and shine, winter may not seem quite so long after all.