This past week, the central cascades witnessed the first snow fall of the season. What the future holds for residents of Eugene at this point is to be determined.
Justin Stapleton, chief meteorologist for KEZI 9 in Eugene, has been looking deep into the winter ahead of us. “It is difficult to say with certainty what the conditions are going to be this winter,” Stapleton said.
“We do have potential for another substantial winter looking at the computers, but we don’t know when or where it is going to be.” Stapleton stressed the importance of being weather aware throughout the winter. “Know what is going on and have a plan,” Stapleton said. “Make sure you are looking at the info, checking your sources and seeing what is factual and what is not.”
Andre Le Duc serves as the director of the University of Oregon Incident Management Team and as one of the incident commanders for the UO-IMT. “The UO-IMT provides the command and control infrastructure that is required to manage the logistical, fiscal, planning, operational, safety and campus related to any and all incidents and emergencies, including winter storms,” Le Duc said.
The UO-IMT uses the National Incident Command System, meaning that the university can integrate its response with all levels of government.
During snow and ice events both on and off campus students should “avoid walking under or near trees or downed power lines and avoid walking immediately adjacent to buildings.
As heavy snow and ice begin to melt, there is increased risk from roof slides,” Le Duc said. Specifically for ice storms, “ice can increase the weight of braces by 30 times and a half accumulation on power lines can add 500 pounds of extra weight,” Le Duc said.
As a resident in Bean East last year, Bailey Brockley was faced with the aftermath of the ice storm last winter as a tree crashed through her dorm room window.”It took a whole day to chop down the tree and we could not exit the dorm for our safety,” Brockley said.
As an Idaho native, Brockley is used to the snow.
“In Idaho there are heaters under the pavements, so the ice just melts away, I had never seen problems like the ones we had last year,” Brockley said. “Pedestrians also cross the streets with orange flags and cities encourage people to put chains on their cars. The university should put salt on the grounds of campus and plow accordingly. When the snow melts and ice forms is when it gets dangerous.”
Brockley also mentioned that residents of the dorms should consider stocking up on food as residence hall dining was shut down during the storms.
Sophomore Kirsten Allred was on the road when the snow storm hit. “I knew the roads were bad, but I grew up around snow so I didn’t think it was a huge deal,” Allred said.
Allred was driving over the Santiam pass and realized it was too much to handle and even debated turning around.
“Everything was white. I couldn’t see cars coming towards me, and I couldn’t see tail lighting in front of me. I just stayed close to the snow bank on the right side of my car for direction. I cried from the beginning of the pass until I reached my driveway in Bend because I knew I couldn’t turn around!” Allred said.
Students, faculty, and staff should be aware of and make use of the following if a snow storm occurs:
1. UOAlerts — Sign up for alerts to your email and cellular device
2. The Alerts Blog for updates
3. The walking map, especially for snow routes