Snow is no stranger in Laramie. The city averages 36 inches higher than the US as a whole at 64 inches per year according to the National Weather Service
Some mornings, it can seem as if very nearly all 64 of those inches came down in one night, and yet the paths to classes are cleared by the time students are awake.
“I remember especially the last couple weeks when there was really heavy and thick snow,” sophomore Emma Samhaus said. “Moving all that in such a short amount of time is insane to think about.”
This winter miracle is thanks entirely to the hard work of the UW Grounds Services department, who regularly shovel all 20 miles of sidewalk on-campus before classes begin.
“I know equipment makes it easier and they don’t have to shovel by hand obviously,” Samhaus said. “But it’s still a lot of work to over before classes start.”
Joining them is the UW Equipment shop, which operates a fleet of plows to clear streets and parking lots for daily use.
According to the Manager of Grounds Services, who wished to remain anonymous, only four workers are employed full-time during the winter and part-time student employees are only employed during the warmer seasons.
On the not-too-uncommon occasion when snow is predicted to fall overnight, either the equipment boss or the grounds manager gets up around 3 a.m. to make the call as to what needs to be cleared.
“We usually get started by 3:30 or 4, and the job takes about four hours if we’re fully staffed,” the Grounds Manager said. “But we are very rarely fully staffed, so we just try to get it done before students arrive.”
Psychology major Keegan Hansen Bennett McDonald noticed this fact last winter, and expressed her gratitude.
“Even though most of my classes were online last year, every time I was on campus during the winter, the sidewalks were clear,” said McDonald. “Honestly, I didn’t think too much about it because it’s always in the background, but I don’t even want to imagine what it would be like without the grounds crew.”
A winter wonderland is just another guarantee when living in “Laradise,” so the workers who spend their time making sure students do not have to hike through many inches of the Wyoming snow are certainly a miracle this time of year.
