Hi Kevin,

First, congrats on your new position.  Great to have you on board.

Reading Bill Haire’s comment in the latest Tech Alum about the 1/4-inch of snow made me chuckle.  Usually, when we get a “Heavy Snowfall Warning”, the result is about 4-inches of snow. However, the really funny part is how the people here deal with the huge dump. The 4-inches here would equate to about 4-feet in Houghton as far as the removal is concerned. Most people here have never heard of a snow scoop and the ones that have are using plastic ones that don’t last long. We still have our Silver Bear galvanized scoop made in Atlantic Mine and it works beautifully. We live close to the Pacific coast and we get the wet, heavy stuff and the best way to deal with it is to use the scoop.

Notwithstanding the above, however, we did break a one-day record last Friday, Feb. 7, with a total 24-hour snowfall of 62.05 inches. Snowfalls of this magnitude haven’t happened here since the early 1980’s. It literally brought everything to a standstill. Our trusty snow scoop really got a workout. Brought back fond memories of winters at Tech.

Doug Davies ‘69, ‘72

Oof. Yeah, five feet of snow will definitely get your attention! My time on the Pacific Coast was in the 30s and 40s for temperatures and drizzle. That dark concrete color for clouds, too.