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Plowguy #2
Thu Apr 14, 2005
Listen in RealAudio 
Hi, I'm Bryan Yeaton and this is The Weather Notebook. You may recall from
yesterday's report that residents of small communities in the Sierra Nevada rely on
snow plow drivers to keep them connected to the outside world. As correspondent
Robin White reports today, those drivers take enormous risks to keep the roads
cleared.
RW: If you live in the mountains it's easy to take it for granted that the winter roads will
be cleared of snow. A big yellow snowplough coming into view in a winter storm is a
heart warming sight and it seems to be the epitome of safety on a mountain road. But
Jim Buckbee, who ploughs roads into Alleghany, California, says even snowploughs
can get out of control in icy conditions.
JB: I've been over the bank twice - once in the grader coming out of the little town of
Forest I had chains on all four wheels. It had snowed hard and it was real cold and the
road was solid ice and the grader started going backwards but the wheels were going
forwards and it kind of slipped off to the side of the road and I jumped out and I was
like a cat going down the road trying to stick my fingers in the ice to stop and I bounced
off the berms on both sides of the road and finally got slowed down enough so that I
could stop.
RW: The plough went into a ditch that time and the next time a colleague arrived with a
chain to catch the plough just before it disappeared into the canyon below. Once
someone else on his crew drove a snowplough into a mineshaft which opened up in
the road.
The Weather Notebook is a production of the Mount Washington Observatory. Our
program is supported in part by the National Science Foundation and Subaru of
America.
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