This winter has really tested everyone in Wisconsin—a record snowfall, freezing rain, hail, thawing and refreezing. Most neighborhood streets are covered under a thick layer of ice. Snow is piled up everywhere possible. The Dane County Airport and the 115th Fighter Wing have also been struggling to manage the snow and ice. It’s not possible to keep every stretch of pavement clear of ice. The budget for plowing, salt and deicing fluid has been expended. Emergency funds keep the plows running, but there’s no salt available to purchase. The essential areas such as runways, taxiways and aircraft parking ramps are cleared regularly and are safe. However, the paved areas not used by aircraft are often buried under heavy sheets of ice. The plows do try to clear the areas, but since they must conserve salt and deicing fluid for aircraft areas, there’s little they can do. Some days the temperature soars high enough to weaken the ice and large tractors scrape the ice away. But most days this winter it only gets warm enough to melt some snow, which puts more water on top of the ice where it freezes at night adding to the problem. Where I work at the Munitions Storage Area between the military ramp and the main runway, we’ve been buried under layers of ice and snow. Only a few days this winter have you been able to see the pavement.
I have a video of The Dude ice skating on some pavement in the Munitions Storage Area. If you’re reading this from the index page you’ll need to click the ‘more’ link to see the video.