- By Dan Veaner
- News
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After a January only golfers would dream about and a winter that included snow, cold, and flooding, perhaps it shouldn't have been a surprise when Mother Nature's April Fools joke hit Lansing on Sunday. The record breaking snow storm dumped 16 inches of heavy, wet snow onto the area making the storm the worst on record for April. That meant extra work for Lansing's Highway Department. "On Monday we came in at 3 o'clock in the morning," says Highway Superintendent Jack French. "We worked until 8 o'clock that night. We were back out Tuesday morning at 3 o'clock and worked 'till 2:30 in the afternoon."
Sunday and Monday April Fools?
Village of Lansing Trustees did meet, because Monday was the deadline for approving next year's Village budget. "I told (Village Clerk/Treasurer Jodi Dake) we were cutting it close," laughed Village Attorney David Dubow. "Six weeks ago when we scheduled the vote I said, 'What if there's a blizzard?' She laughed at me!"
The thick snow meant that Lansing's entire fleet of nine trucks were plowing constantly. That meant nine drivers and nine 'wing men,' workers who manipulate the plows. "We had to keep on going back out," French says. "That Monday we were on the road the whole time."
While the department was already preparing for Spring, French says they were ready when the storm hit. While plows were removed from the trucks, the plow frames were still attached, so it only took about an hour to get the fleet onto the roads. The Town had salt and sand on hand. "It wasn't as much, because the snow melted fairly fast," French says. "We didn't have to put very much down -- we were plowing more than anything."
But French says that with the fierce winter are the freak April storm his 2007 plowing budget is alarmingly low. "We're getting close to where we're budgeted," he worries. "We have still got this November and December to go. February and March were pretty rough on us, just continuous. Not a whole lot of big storms, but every day."
According to the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) much of the United States can expect a warmer than usual summer, with drought conditions in parts of the Southwest. But the outlook for New York State is about normal with equal chances of a wetter or dryer and warmer or cooler than normal summer. While this week began with cold temperatures and a blanket of snow, the weekend outlook is for temperatures in the 60s and mostly sunny conditions. By Monday it may reach 70 degrees.
Lansing School Superintendent says the extra snow day will not affect the school year for students, but will impact the district's ten-month employees. He says school administrators are negotiating with the union leadership to make up the day productively.
Meanwhile, Lansing streets were largely clear Sunday and Monday, even though there wasn't much traffic. "We were ready for it," French says.
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