http://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/cgibin/wygraph.pl?stationidname=21E04S-MARION+FORKS&state=OR
It does not look significantly higher than normal.
Higher for this time of year, but lower than normal for the whole year. Why are they already out of money for a seasonal budget?
This doesn’t happen every year....there are unusual amounts of snow in the oregon mountains this year. (especially the windward side)
Its interesting, but just 30-40 miles away to either the east or the west...there is hardly any snow.
As the PW Director here in a city of 15,000 in eastern WA, we budget approximately 15,000 annually for snow removal. this pays for liquid de-icers along with a seasons (December to February) salt and sand mixture. Since we have had a series of pretty mild winters we were able to stockpile 3 years of salt and sand. If you have a mild ending to winter (January to February) then you can spend all of your budget at the end of the year (beginning of winter) and maximize your budget going into the heart of winter in the new year...
We have had two significant snowfalls this winter with a total snow fall of about 13 inches (5 and 8 inches) outside of overtime for my 6 man crew for the first night of the event (it always happens at night) the crews then adjust to a night time schedule to eliminate more overtime (paid out as comp time) which allows for more efficient snow removal operations without the traffic.
Historically here in the Yakima Valley/Lower Columbia Basin most cities just wait and rely on the warm chinook winds which blow about 3-7 days after the snowfall and as such don’t budget a lot for snow removal. My point is that if the crews weren’t plowing snow they would be paid for doing their normal maintenance jobs. The only increase I have seen in my budget was an additional 70 gallons in fuel so that my street could be open and business could operate to generate sales tax revenues...
The big difference with this town in Oregon is they are buried and require specialized equipment to dig out...