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What a difference a year makes
"I was at a meeting in Jefferson City on Monday and it started snowing there so I came back early," Dr. David Stephens, Nevada R-5 superintendent said of the Blizzard of 2011.
One year ago today, Vernon Countians faced 18 to 20 inches of snow from a storm that assaulted the area.
It was the deepest single snowfall the area had seen for many years and was billed a "historic event" by weather analysts and public safety officials, even before the storm subsided. Deep drifts covered driveways and parking lots. Walking was difficult; driving was hazardous and in some areas, impossible.
Early that morning, Stephens said, he was out driving the roads to check the road conditions to see if the district would have classes.
With the conditions deteriorating he began the process of notifying the school administrators, teachers. parents and students there would be no classes as well as letting the news media know.
"We were out the rest of the week and two days the following week," he said.
Dana Cavener said that thanks to a four-wheel drive vehicle, they made it to town to open Cavener's Office Supplies and Furniture.
"One employee made it in and we sent her home at mid-morning," she said.
Finally the weather got to be too much for them.
"After shoveling the walk five times we left early for the first time in 15 years," she said.
At the Nevada Daily Mail, a few employees made it to the office before supervisors called several of those whose shifts hadn't started yet to let them know they should just stay home -- something one employee noted hadn't happened before, in her 20 years of service. Other employees were snowed in -- some at home, some stuck at work -- unable to move their half-covered vehicles until others could help with snow removal. One reported drifts against his door, preventing him from even venturing outdoors. Newspapers were printed on time with a skeleton crew, but the weather did cause some delays in delivery.
Employees at places like the hospital and other places that provide 24-hour essential services also went the extra mile and worked extra shifts in many cases.
Fortunately for everyone the National Weather Service had been forecasting the snowstorm for several days, which gave everyone -- especially emergency services -- time to prepare the best they could for the weather.
"We had two or three days' warning of the storm, so we prepped the trucks and made sure we had enough fuel for the generators," James McKenzie, Vernon County Ambulance District director said.
"We called in the entire crew and told them to bring enough clothes for two days, which ended up being a week," he said.
Just in case the snow was too bad for the VCAD to get ambulances to the patients, McKenzie said they contacted all of the rural fire departments in the county with four-wheel drive vehicles to let them know they might need their help if the weather got too bad.
"We had 100 percent response from them. That's fantastic," McKenzie said, adding that their help was needed to reach a couple of patients.
Once the storm hit, McKenzie said they responded to calls in all directions for slide-offs and other emergency calls. And that went on for the rest of the week.
The city of Nevada had recently developed a new strategy to handle snow and it was put to the ultimate test that day and it worked.
City Manager JD Kehrman said that Roger Beach and his crews did a terrific job of keeping up with the snow, and the police department was responding to calls thanks to loan of four-wheel drive vehicles from Max Motors before the National Guard arrived.
This left Kehrman free to worry about what the city would do if the storm coated the power lines with ice and left hundreds of people looking for a warm place to shelter.
He said that he talked to McKenzie about providing shelter for people with medical needs.
They also considered the need to use the public works building, which has a generator, as a shelter and talked to the Red Cross about the need for shelters.
Fortunately that did not happen; and Kehrman said that thanks to a grant from the Moss Trust, the city will soon have natural gas powered generators to power the Neal Center and the Franklin P. Norman City/County Community Center.
He said the city will be opening bids for the generators in late February and he has talked to Empire Gas and they will include those building in their emergency operation manual to be considered uninterruptable customers. That way if for some reason they need to cut part of the town off from gas, those facilities will be kept supplied.
This year, the weather's making records of a different sort -- today's forecast is for a mostly-sunny day and a high temperature of 63 degrees.