Photo credit: Beverly Companies Key Takeaways:
When 10 inches of snow is in the forecast, everyone grounds manager at institutional and commercial facilities knows what is coming. Snowplows are ready, and crews are mobilized.
Two inches can be a different story.
A relatively small snowfall may seem easier to manage, but accumulation tells only part of the story. Temperature, precipitation type, pavement conditions, timing and traffic can turn a seemingly minor event into one of the more difficult situations a commercial property faces all winter.
In some cases, 10 inches of predictable overnight snow can actually present a more straightforward operational plan than two inches falling under the wrong conditions.
One of the most important numbers during a winter weather event may not be the snowfall total or even the air temperature. It is the pavement temperature.
A parking lot can remain below freezing even as the air temperature climbs above 32 degrees. The opposite can also occur, particularly after a sunny day or when pavement retains heat.
What happens when precipitation reaches the pavement determines the response.
Anti-icing strategies are designed to prevent snow and ice from bonding to pavement in the first place. Once that bond develops, removing the accumulation can require more mechanical effort and additional deicing material.
Deicing chemicals also become less efficient as temperatures fall. Ordinary sodium chloride works increasingly slow at lower pavement temperatures, making material selection and application rates more important during colder events.
For property managers, this means a forecast simply calling for “2 inches of snow” does not provide enough information to determine how challenging the event will be.
Snow is also only one possible form of winter precipitation.
A storm may begin as snow, transition to sleet, change to freezing rain and then return to snow. Precipitation type depends heavily on temperatures throughout different layers of the atmosphere.
For snow professionals, each transition can require a different response.
Two inches of light, dry snow at 20 degrees is one thing. Two inches of wet snow followed by freezing rain at 31 degrees is something entirely different.
The second introduces moisture capable of diluting previously applied deicing materials. Temperatures can then fall, allowing that moisture to refreeze.
Suddenly, the main challenge is no longer removing two inches of accumulation. It is controlling the layer of ice underneath it.
That is why seemingly minor storms sometimes require multiple treatments and follow-up visits even after precipitation has stopped.
Timing creates another challenge.
Imagine 2 inches beginning at 6:30 a.m. on a weekday.
By 8 a.m. employees are arriving. Cars are traveling through the parking lot, delivery trucks are entering loading areas and pedestrians are crossing sidewalks. That’s a lot to handle.
Before crews can completely clear the property, vehicles begin compacting the snow.
Preventing snow and ice from bonding to pavement is essential. Traffic works against that goal. Tires can compress light accumulation into a dense layer that becomes increasingly difficult to scrape away.
The problem becomes even greater once parking spaces fill.
A 10-inch storm arriving overnight might provide crews several hours to work across an empty parking lot. A 2-inch morning event may force operators to maneuver around hundreds of vehicles while continuously reopening drive lanes and pedestrian routes.
The smaller storm suddenly becomes a traffic-management problem as much as a snow-removal problem. And one where drivers can be unaware of the dangers of slippery pavement as well.
Larger storms generally make one decision easy; plowing is necessary.
Small storms live closer to the margins.
Should crews pretreat the property? Is the pavement warm enough for accumulation to melt initially? Will temperatures fall later? Will rain wash away pretreatment? Should the lot be plowed at 1-2 inches or after the storm? Will traffic compact the snow before that happens? Should we call in laborers at 2 a.m. just in case?
Those decisions have to be made before anyone knows exactly how the storm will develop.
This is where communication between grounds managers and commercial snow removal contractors becomes especially important.
Service expectations should not be based exclusively on snowfall depth. Contracts and snow response plans should also account for other events. Ice, freezing rain, temperature changes, high-traffic periods and other conditions requiring service even when measurable snowfall is minimal should all be mentioned.
One of the most overlooked parts of a small event occurs several hours later.
Temperatures rise. Snow piles begin melting. Water travels across pavement toward drains and low spots. Then the temperature falls again.
The original 2 inches may be long gone, but the property can still develop icy conditions.
Entrances, shaded sidewalks, loading docks, drainage areas and locations near snow piles deserve particular attention during these freeze-thaw cycles.
That makes monitoring after a storm especially valuable. The final inspection should not necessarily occur when the last snowflake falls. Conditions several hours later may be entirely different from those during the storm.
Property managers naturally watch accumulation forecasts because inches are easy to understand. But snowfall depth alone is a poor measure of how difficult an event will be to manage.
A better winter weather conversation includes several questions:
Ten inches of snow will always require significant work.
Two inches can demand something different. It requires a judgment call based on experience. Experience that is only earned through years.
And in snow and ice management, the storms requiring the most judgment are often the ones capable of creating the biggest surprises.
Tom Marsan is a certified snow professional who has been in the landscaping and snow removal industry for about two decades. He is an active member of ILCA and SIMA and is currently the general manager at Beverly Companies in Chicagoland.
